UNIVERSITY   LIFE   IN   ANCIENT    ATHENS 


UNIVERSITY  LIFE  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS 


BEING  THE  SUBSTANCE   OF  FOUR  OXFORD   LECTURES 


BY 

W.  W.  CAPES,  M.  A. 

READER  IN  ANCIENT  HISTORY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OB'  OXFORD 


REPRINT  1922 


NEW  YORK 

G.  E.  STECHERT&CO. 
1922 


PBEFACE 


THESE  PAGES  have  been  written  simply  as  a  chapter 
in  the  history  of  the  past,  which  is  little  known 
perhaps  among  us.  Modern  names  and  analogies 
have  been  freely  used,  but  only  to  assist  the  fancy, 
and  with  no  wish  to  imply,  by  way  of  oblique  refer- 
ence, any  judgment  on  the  merits  or  demerits  of 
our  present  system.  Comparison  may  possibly  be 
useful,  but  the  reader  is  asked  to  draw  his  conclu- 
sions for  himself,  and  not  to  ascribe  them  to  the  writer. 
The  materials  for  the  first  chapter  are  gathered 
almost  exclusively  from  monumental  sources,  which 
may  be  most  easily  consulted  in  a  work  by  A.  Dumont 
*  Sur  1'Ephebie  Attique,'  of  which  one  volume  only, 
containing  the  Greek  texts,  had  appeared  before 
these  sheets  were  printed. 

The  early  part  of  the  second  chapter  is  based  on 
an  article  by  C.  Gr.  Zumpt  on  the  Schools  of  Phi- 
losophy at  Athens,  which  was  published  in  1843, 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Berlin,  but 


617127 


vi  Preface. 

the  original  authorities  have  been  throughout  con- 
sulted. In  the  other  pages  frequent  references  have 
been  made  to  the  biographies  by  Philostratus  and 
Eunapius,  who  deal  especially  with  the  subjects 
treated.  The  writings  of  Libanius  have  been  also 
largely  used,  though  his  pictures  of  professorial  and 
student  life  are  only  partly  drawn  from  Athens, 
which  he  left  to  lecture  at  Antioch  and  elsewhere, 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  his  descriptions 
do  not  apply  to  the  conditions  of  the  older  Univer- 
sity. For  an  introduction  to  the  lectures  of  Hime- 
rius,  the  writer  was  indebted  to  a  treatise  by  L. 
Petit  de  Julleville, '  L'Ecole  d'Athenes  au  quatrieme 
Siecle,'  as  also  possibly  for  one  or  two  other  hints. 
Hertzberg's  '  Greschichte  Grriechenlands  unter  der 
Herrschafb  der  Romer  '  has  also  been  consulted,  as 
containing  probably  the  fullest  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  from  that  source  little  or  nothing  in  the 
following  pages  has  been  consciously  derived. 

BRAMSHOTT:  March  1877. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ..1-3 


CHAPTER  I. 

«* 

THE  COLLEGE  SYSTEM. 

Our  information  comes  from  the  inscriptions  of  the  Ephebi 

which  extend  for  centuries     . 4 

Early  usages  with  regard  to  the  Ephebi  .  .  .  .  5 
Important  changes  in  the  Macedonian  period  .  .  .  .  6 
Many  Athenians  never  were  included  .  .  .  6 

Aliens  were  admitted         ........      6 

The  Term  was  shortened 7 

Matriculation  and  religious  ceremony  at  the  opening  of  Term  7 
Stress  laid  on  religious  influence,  and  holy  seasons  .  .  8 

Their  academic  dress         .  9 

They  probably  lived  together        .        .        .        .        .        .10 

Their  use  of  gymnasia        .        .        .        .        .      v.        .    .     10 

They  attended  the  Lectures  of  the  Public  Professors    .        .12 
Attendance  at  all  except  the  Epicurean,  encouraged         .    .     12 
The  term  of  College  life  was  very  short         .        .        .        .13 

But  the  expenses  considerable.    College  dues  .        .    .    14 

Payment  to  College  Library 14 

Offertory.  Testimonials.  Athletic  Sports.  Sconces  .  .  15 
The  final  examinations  in  the  Senate  House  .  .  .16 

Their  healthy  state  and  good  behaviour 17 

The  Cosmetes  or  Head  of  the  College    .        .        .        .        .18 


viii  Contents. 

PAGE 

The  Sophronistae  or  Proctors.  Tutors.  College  Accounts  .  19 
The  vote  of  thanks  in  the  Public  Assembly  .  .  .  ,20 
A  characteristic  specimen  recorded  in  the  inscriptions  .  21 

The  System  above  described  was  a  national  one   ,        .        .25 
Our  information  drawn  almost  entirely  from  the  inscriptions    26 
These  give  the  number  and  names  of  the  students,  many  of 
whom  were  Semitic .27 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  PROFESSORS  or  PHILOSOPHY. 

The  four  great  schools  of  thought          .....  29 

The  succession  in  each  school  religiously  respected  .        .    ,  30 

The  heads  lectured  in  the  public  gymnasia  .        »        .        .31 

Rudimentary  forms  of  endowment  in  the  Platonic  sect        .  32 

„                „                „            in  the  Aristotelian          .  33 

„                „                „            in  the  Epicurean         .    ,  34 

Endowments    for   philosophic    dinners,   which  tended   to 

become  extravagant 35 

No  legal  recognition  of  corporate  rights  in  the  sects  .  .  37 

'•-They  resented  any  interference  from  the  State  .  .  .  38 

Fees  paid  by  the  students 39 

The  Cynic  or  Stoic  sect  discouraged  endowments  and  fees  .  39 
The  large  number  of  students  of  philosophy          .        .        .40 

Stories  of  sudden  conversion      .        .        .        .        .        .    ,  41 

Honorary  recognition  of  the  philosophers  by  Athens  .  .  41 

Little  endowment  as  yet  needed  .  •  .  .  .  42 

Rival  seats  of  i earning  for  other  branches  of  study  .  .  42 

The  influence  of  old  associations  in  favour  of  Athens  .  .  43 

Yet  her  attractive  power  grew  weaker 44 

Her  revival  thanks  to  the  patronage  of  Hadrian,  and  the 

Antonines,  who  began  the  system  of  State  endowments  .  45 
Lucian's  description  of  an  Election  by  a  Board  .  .  .46 
A  more  favourable  picture  of  Athenian  society  by  the  same 

author 47 

Also  in  Aulus  Gellins 48 

The  description  of  Herodes  Atticus  ...  .  50 

Few  signs  of  originality  or  deep  study  in  later  days.  .  .  51 


Contents.  ix 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PROFESSORS  OP  RHETORIC. 

PAOB 

The  Sophists  or  Professors  of  Rhetoric  .  «  .  .  .  53 
The  public  professors  and  private  lecturers  generally  aliens, 

often  men  of  wealth  and  rank 54 

The  story  of  Hippodromus  to  illustrate  the  knight  errantry 

of  the  Sophists ...  56 

The  story  of  Marcus  of  Byzantium 57 

Popular  enthusiasm  for  the  Sophists.  Their  vanity  and 

ostentation 58 

Their  professional  gains .  60 

Their  immunities  from  civil  burdens  .  .  .  ,  61 

Examples  of  imperial  caprice  in  the  treatment  of  the  Sophists  62 

The  interests  of  learning  suffered  from  the  whims  of  Caracalla  63 

And  in  the  third  century  from  war  and  faction  .  <  .  64 

Athens  stormed  by  the  Goths,  who  were  routed  by  Dexippus  65 
The  fourth  century  a  brilliant  age  for  the  University  of 

Athens  .....*.....  65 

The  endowed  Chairs,  and  influence  of  the  Provincial  Governor  67 
Official  salaries  varying  like  tithe  rent  charge.  Lecture^ 

rooms  .  .  • .  .  68 

Jealousies  of  rival  Sophists  illustrated  from  Eunapius .  .  69 
Another  illustration  of  their  bitter  feeling  and  rhetorical 

skill .  .  .  .  .  71 

The  three  great  Sophists  rather  Asiatic  than  Hellenic  in  race  73 

The  general  character  of  their  educational  influence  .  .  74 
The  personal  ties  between  teacher  and  student  were  very 

close,  and  desertion  keenly  felt  by  the  lecturer  .  .  .  75 

The  evils  of  rivalry  sometimes  avoided  by  special  unions  .  76 

The  position  of  the  sub-professors  in  these  is  not  attractive  77 

Libanius  called  to  account  for  neglect  of  professorial  work  78 
The  Sophists'  pride  in  the  number  of  their  pupils  .  .79 

The  solemn  language  of  Himerius  to  the  freshmen  .  .  .  80 
The  course  consisted  of  the  study  of  the  Classics,  together 

with  the  rules  of  rhetoric  .        .        .        .        .        .        .81 

Original  compositions  were  required,  and  exercises  in  logic 

and  elocution  .....*..  .83 


x  Contents. 

PAGE 

The  Sophists  professed  to  aim  at  more  than  rhetoric  .  .  84 

But  the  course  of  study  was  more  imposing  than  profound  .  85 
The  evidence  remaining  in  the  works  of  Professors  like 

Hiinerius  .  86 

The  difficulty  of  doing  justice  to  the  rhetorical  beauties  of 

Greek  style  .  .  . 87 

Themistius,  though  a  philosopher,  is  as  rhetorical  as  the 

Sophists 89 

As  moral  preachers  the  Sophists  were  surpassed  by  Christian 

doctors 90 

The  dwindling  numbers  and  reputation  of  the  Schools  ,  .  91 

Illustrations  from  Libanius  of  the  poverty  of  Professors  .  93 


CHAPTER  IV. 

STUDENT  LIFE. 

Our  knowledge  mainly  drawn  from  writers  of  the  fourth 

century ,    .    96 

Few  students  were  of  Attic  race    .......    96 

Commonly  they  were  very  young  and  had  pedagogues  often  97 
Each  attached  himself  specially  to  a  Professor ,  .  .  .  98 
The  students  touting  for  their  own  Professors. — Experience 

of  Libanius .        .        .99 

The  practical  jokes  which  few  freshmen  escaped  .  .  .  100 
National  differences  seem  to  have  been  marked  by  social 

clubs 102 

The  factious  spirit  of  these  illustrated  by  Eunapius  .  .  .  103 
Effect  of  such  students'  brawls  on  the  fancy  of  the  young 

Libanius     .        .        .        .        .        ,        ,        .        .        ,105 
Town  and  gown  riots          ........  106 

Attacks  upon  the  pedagogues 107 

No  discipline  exerted  by  the  University  or  by  city  police     ,  108 

Very  different  provisions  at  Borne 109 

The  students  at  Lecture 110 

They  often  behaved  badly,  as  Libanius  describes  .        .        .111 
Even  in  earlier  ages  there  is  evidence  of  rudeness  and  in- 
attention       ,        .        .        .        ,        ,        .        .        .    .  113 
Question  among  the  Sophists  as  to  the  use  of  the  rod  .        .114 


Contents.  xi 

PAOB 

Himerius  relied  on  love,  but  Libanius  used  the  rod,  though 
he  shrank  from  expulsion       .        .        .        .        .        .    .  115 

Students  often  would  not  pay  the  fees 116 

Many  of  them  were  very  poor,  and  there  were  no  exhibitions  118 
They  often  remained  long,  and  left  the  University  with 
regret      ...........  119 

•< 

CHAPTER  V. 
CHRISTIAN  INFLUENCES  ON  THE  SCHOOLS  OF  ATHENS. 

The  early  Sophists  were  freethinkers,  the  later  conservative 

in  religion 120 

The  later  philosophers  were  devout  and  claimed  powers  over 

the  spirit  world      . .  121 

The  Christian  alarm  and  dislike  of  the  schools  of  rhetoric  .  122 
The  complaints  of  Libanius  of  the  discouragement  to  study  123 
Brighter  times  came  in  with  Julian,  but  were  not  lasting  .  124 
His  death  was  followed  by  edicts  and  riots  against  Paganism  126 
The  bitter  resentment  of  Eunapius  and  Libanius .  .  .  127 
The  schools  of  Athens  suffered  from  the  downfall  of  Pagan- 
ism, and  from  the  spread  of  legal  and  Latin  studies  .  .129 
Synesius  tells  us  of  pilgrims  attracted  to  Athens  .  .  .  130 
But  he  speaks  with  contempt  of  the  studies  carried  on  there  131 

The  schools  of  rhetoric  disappeared 132 

These  were  closed  by  the  edict  of  Justinian          .        .        .133 
A  few  philosophers  retired  to  Persia,  but  only  to  be  dis- 
appointed of  their  hopes  .        .        .        .        .  .      .        .    134 


CHEONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


B.C. 

The  death  of  Socrates  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .399 

Plato  in  the  Academy 388 

Antisthenes  the  Cynic .        .        .        .        .        .        .     fl.  366 

Speusippus,  Head  of  the  Academy     ....        347-339 

Xenocrates  succeeded  Speusippus 339 

Isocrates  wrote  the  Panegyr.  380      .        .        /        .  died  f  338 

Aristotle  in  the  Lyceum       ...;..,  335 

Crates  the  Cynic /.  328 

Theophrastns  succeeded  Aristotle  in  the  Lyceum        .        .  322 

Demetrius  Phalereus,  Governor  of  Athens       .        .        .     .  318 

Polemon  succeeded  Xenocrates    . 315 

Epicurus  at  Athens 306 

Straton  succeeded  Theophrastus  ....         about  287 

Antigonus  Gonatas 283-239 

Zenon  in  the  Porch fl.  278 

Lycon  succeeded  Straton         .......  272 

Cleanthes  succeeded  Zenon          .        .        .        .        .        .  263 

Chrysippus  succeeded  Cleanthes      .        .        .     born  280  f  207 

Carneades,  Ambassador  of  Athens        .....  165 

Siege  of  Athens  by  Sulla .     .  87 

Cicero  at  Athens           .        .        .        .         .                 .        ,  79» 

Horace  at  the  University         .        .        .        .        .        .    .  47 

A.D. 

Athens  declined  in  reputation      .        .        .        .        . 

Dion  Chrysostom '  fl.  dbovt      97 

Epictetus /.     „        104 

Plutarch  .        .        , A.     „        115 


xiv  Chronological  Table. 

A.D. 

Hadrian  beautified  Athens 124 

The  Sophists,  Favorinus  and  Polemon     .         .         .          Ji.  132 

Herodes  Atticus,  101-177     .....        consul  143 

Aulus  Gellius  at  Athens  .         .        .  .         .         .      160-4 

Marcus  Aurelius,  Emperor  1 
The  University  endowed    J 

Lucian  wrote fl.  about  162 

Aristides  wrote  his  sermons 176 

The  Deipnosophistae  of  Athenaens  written       .        ...  193 

Philostratus  wrote  the  lives  of  the  Sophists        .        .  after  221 

Plotinus 205-270 

Diogenes  Laertius /.  about  250 

Dexippus  routed  the  Goths 269 

Longinns       . f  273 

Eumenius  '  pro  restaurandis  scholis ' 296 

Himerius 315-368 

Libanius  at  Athens .  .  336 

Death  of  Julian  the  Sophist         ......  340 

Libanius,  Professor  at  Antioch  1  3&2 

Themistius,  Professor  at  Constantinople    } 
Letter  of  Emperor  Julian  to  people  of  Athens    .        .        .361 

Eunapius  born  346  .        .        .        .        .at  Athens  362 

Death  of  Proasresius 367 

Synesius  at  Athens about  390 

Death  of  Libanius 396 

Eunapius  wrote  the  lives  of  the  Sophists        .        .     about  406 

Plutarch  at  Athens t  431 

Justinian  closed  the  Schools  of  Athens    .  .  529 


UNIVERSITY  LIFE  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS. 


INTRODUCTION, 

WHEN  Pericles  reminded  his  Athenian  hearers,  in  his  Timc.ii.4i. 
famous  funeral  speech,  that  their  fatherland  was  a 
sort  of  school  of  G  reece,  he  was  using  words  uncon- 
sciously that  were  weighty  with  prophetic  meaning. 
He  was  thinking  of  the  monumental  glories  of  the 
city,  which  strangers  flocked  from  every  land  to  visit ; 
of  the  impulse  given  to  art-studies  by  the  geniun  of 
Phidias,  and  of  his  band  of  fellow-labourers  on  the 
Acropolis ;  of  the  outburst  of  literary  talent  stirred 
by  the  strong  sense  of  national  freedom;  of  the 
charms  of  poetry  and  music  enlisted  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  stately  ceremonials  of  religion.  But 
the  professional  teacher?  of  his  day  were  aliens  for 
the  most  part ;  Sophists,  cosmopolitan  in  feeling, 
who  settled  in  the  Imperial  city  because  they  found 
there  a  ready  mart  for  all  their  foreign  wares,  where 
practised  skill  in  fence  of  words  was  needed  most 

B 


2        University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

for  the  free  play  of  national  life.  In  the  orator's 
own  days,  however,  the  movement  was  beginning 
which  was  to  render  Athens  before  long  the  home 
of  intellectual  training.  Socrates  was  dropping  into 
the  minds  of  his  young  friends  those  fruitful  seeds 
which,  modified  by  the  various  soils  on  which  they 
fell,  were  to  grow  in  course  of  time  into  the  four 
great  schools  of  thought,  which  between  them 
occupied  well-nigh  all  earnest  seekers  after  truth. 
They  quartered  themselves  in  Athens  as  their  home, 
assuming  each  an  organised  shape,  and  gathering 
admirers  from  all  lands. 

Around  them  was  grouped  a  multitude  of  other 
teachers,  lecturers  in  rhetoric  and  grammar,  who 
dressed  up  in  popular  and  showy  forms  their  theories 
of  literary  art.  And  so  men  came  to  think  of  her  as 
the  University  of  higher  culture,  in  which  were 
represented  all  the  studies  of  the  age. 

The  Ethical  systems  took  to  some  extent,  as 
Bacon  says,  the  place  which  Theology  has  filled  else- 
where, while  the  ancient  Metaphysic  dealt  more 
expressly  with  many  of  her  problems.  .Physical 
enquiry  of  a  kind  was  encouraged  in  the  Lyceum,  as 
a  part  of  the  encyclopaedia  of  Aristotle.  Logical 
method  was  pursued,  though  on  different  principles, 
by  all ;  and  the  Rhetoricians,  too,  were  busy  supplying 
something  like  courses  oi  philology,  or  the  '  Liters) 


Introduction.  3 

Humaniores '  of  our  later  times.  Private  benefactors 
before  long  came  forward  with  endowments  to  pro- 
vide a  quiet  shelter  for  the  chief  professors  of  each 
school,  the  local  permanence  of  which  was  thus  se- 
cured. Soon,  indeed,  Athens  had  to  stoop  from 
her  former  rank  among  the  nations  ;  but  she  stepped 
almost  at  once  into  another,  and  became  the  school 
not  of  Greece  only,  but  the  world. 

After  a  while  again  she  suffered  from  the  rivalry 
of  other  intellectual  centres,  as  also  from  the  marked 
dejcline  of  original  research.  But  the  endowments 
of  the  Antonines  gave  her  a  new  lease  of  life,  and  in 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries  she  was,  beyond  com- 
pare, the  foremost  of  the  Universities  then  known. 

She  lingered  on  a  century  longer,  though  in 
spectral  form  and  with  decaying  strength,  till  the 
edict  of  Justinian  closed  her  schools ;  and  her  pro-  A.D.  529. 
fessors  moodily  withdrew  to  far-off  Persia,  to  seek, 
though  vainly,  for  the  enlightened  favour  which  was 
denied  them  irj  the  Koman  Empire. 


B  2 


4        University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   COLLEGE   SYSTEM. 

Ourinfor-     SOME  scholars  may  be  inclined  to  call  in  question 

in  at  ion 

comes  from  the  term  which  has  been  chosen  for  the  heading  of 

the  inscrip- 
tions of  the  this   chapter;  may  doubt   if  there  was  anything  at 

Athens  which  could  answer  to  the  College  Life  of 
modern  times.  Indeed  it  must  be  owned  that  formal 
history  is  nearly  silent  on  the  subject,  that  ancient 
writers  take  little  notice  of  it,  and  such  evidences 
as  we  have  are  drawn  almost  entirely  from  a  series 
of  inscriptions  on  the  marble  tablets,  which  were 
covered  with  the  ruins  and  the  dust  of  ages,  till  one 
after  another  earne  to  light  in  recent  days,  to  add 
fresh  pages  to  th*  story  of  .the  past. 

which  ex-  Happily  they  are  both  numerous  and  lengthy, 

centuries,  and  may  be  already  pieced  together  in  an  order 
which  extends  for  centuries.  They  are  known  to 
Epigraphic  students  as  the  records  which  deal  with 
the  so-called  Ephebi ;  with  the  youths,  that  is,  just 
passing  into  manhood,  for  whom  a  special  discipline 
was  provided  by  the  State,  to  n't  them  for  the  re- 


The  College  System.  5 

sponsibilities  of  active  life.  It  was  a  National 
system  with  a  many-sided  training ;  the  teachers  were 
members  of  the  Civil  Service ;  the  registers  were 
public  documents,  and,  as  such,  belonged  to  the 
Archives  of  the  State.  The  earlier  inscriptions  of 
the  series  date  from  the  period  of  Macedonian 
ascendency,  but  in  much  earlier  times  there  had 
been  forms  of  public  drill  prescribed  for  the  Ephebi. 
It  had  been  an  ancient  usage  that  the  youths  who  had  Early 

usages  with 

just  entered  on  their  nineteenth  year  should  appear,  in  regard  to 

the  Ephebi. 

the  presence  of  their  kinsfolk  and  their  neighbours, 
to  have  their  names  put  on  the  Civic  Roil,  to  be 
armed  in  public  with  a  shield  and  spear,  and  to  be 
then  escorted  to  a  temple  where  the  solemn  oath  was 
taken  of  loyal  service  to  their  country  and  their 
gods.  '  I  swear,'  so  ran  the  words,  '  not  to  bring 
disgrace  upon  these  arms,  nor  to  desert  my  comrade 
in  the  fight.  I  will  do  battle  for  the  common  weal, 
for  the  religion  of  my  fathers.  I  will  obey  those 
who  bear  rule,  and  the  laws  which  are  in  force,  and 
all  that  the  sovereign  people  shall  decree.'  The 
young  champions  so  pledged  were  bound  awhile  to 
special  forms  of  military  duty ;  they  were  drafted 
into  companies  of  National  guards,  and  patrolled  the 
country  districts,  or  were  posted  in  outlying  forts  in 
defensive  service  on  the  frontier,  till  their  two  years 
of  probation  had  expired. 


6        University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


important 

changes  in 

the  Mace- 

donian 

period. 


Manv 


Aliens  were 

admitted. 


Such  were  the  forms  which  lasted  on  through  the 
old  days  of  independence,  when  every  citizen  must 
be  a  soldier,  and  the  first  claim  which  Athens  made 
was  that  her  children  should  defend  her.  But  in 
the  later  days  of  Macedonian  rule,  when  she  enjoyed 
only  a  faint  show  of  freedom,  she  no  longer  de- 
manded as  a  right  the  personal  service  of  her  sons, 
and  soon  changed,  in  the  case  of  the  Ephebi,the  essen- 
tial character  of  her  educational  routine. 

1-  The  name  did  not  henceforth  include  the  whole 
rising  manhood  of  the  State.  All  who  feared  the 
loss  of  time  or  want  of  means,  all  who  thought  the 
drill  too  irksome,  could  stand  aside  when  they 
reached  the  fitting  age,  and  not  enrol  themselves  in 
what  was  now  a  corps  of  Volunteers.  The  poorer 
classes,  as  we  may  suppose,  dropped  out,  and  betook 
themselves  at  once  to  active  life  ;  only  the  well-to- 
do  aspired  to  such  a  finish  to  a  liberal  training. 

2.  It  served  no  longer  as  a  test  of  purity  of  birth  or 
civic  rights.  We  find  from  a  decree,  which,  if  genuine, 
dates  even  from  the  days  of  Pericles,  that  the  young 
men  of  Cos  were  allowed  by  special  favour  to  share  the 
discipline  of  the  Athenian  Ephebi.  Soon  afterwards 
others  were  admitted  on  all  sides.  The  aliens  who 
had  gained  a  competence  as  merchants  or  as  bankers, 
found  their  sons  welcomed  in  the  ranks  of  the  oldest 
families  of  Athens;  strangers  flocked  thither  from  dis- 


The  College  System.  7 

tant  countries,  not  only  from  the  isles  of  Greece,  and 
from  the  coasts  of  the  ^Egean,  but,  as  Hellenic  culture 
made  its  way  through  the  far  East,  students  even  of 
Semitic  race  were  glad  to  enrol  their  names  upon  the 
College  registers,  where  we  may  still  see  them  with 
the  marks  of  their  several  nationalities  affixed. 

3.  The  young  men  were  no  longer,  like  soldiers  The  term 

was  short- 

upon  actual  service,  beginning  already  the  real  work  ened. 
of  life,  and  on  that  account,  perhaps,  the  term  was 
shortened  from  two  years  to  one ;  but  the  old  associa- 
tions lasted  on  for  ages,  even  in  realistic  Athens,  which 

•v          ** 

in  early  politics  at  least  had  made  so  clean  a  sweep. 
The  outward  forms  were  still  preserved,  the  soldier's 
drill  was  still  enforced,  and,  though  many  another 
feature  had  been  added,  the  whole  institution  bore 
upon  its  face  the  look  rather  of  a  Military  College 
than  of  a  training  school  for  a  scholar  or  a  states- 
man. 

The  College  year  began  somewhat  later  than  the  Matricula- 

tion, 

opening  of  the  civil  year,  and  it  was  usual  for  all  the 
students  to  matriculate  together ;  that  is,  to  enter 
formally  their  names  upon  the  registers,  which  were 
copied  afterwards  upon  the  marble  tablets,  of  which 
large  fragments  have  survived.  That  done,  they  andreii- 
were  expected  to  take  part,  with  their  officers  and 
tutors,  in  a  religious  ceremonial  held  in  the  Guild- 


8        University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


hall  of  the  city,  which  even  in  its  name  reminds  us 
of  our  stated  services  at  the  opening  of  Term. 

For  the  Athenian  Government  laid  special  stress 
upon  religious  influence  in  education;  they  insisted 
that  the  young  men  should  be  trained  to  reverence 
the  guardian  powers  of  the  State,  The  documents 
for  stress  before  us  emphasize  the  hope  that  they  would  grow 
religious  to  orderly  and  pious  manhood ;  and,  with  all  their 
education,  large  tolerance  of  Nonconformist  systems,  the  rulers 
had  no  scruple  in  prescribing  the  religion  of  the 
State.  The  creeds  of  Paganism  were  too  wide  and 
too  elastic  to  cause  anxiety  to  any  tender  conscience, 
and  the  votaries  of  Syrian  gods  could  join  without 
misgiving  in  the  ritual  of  Hellenic  worship.  Even 
to  the  last  days  of  the  heathen  world,  Athens  was  the 
stronghold  of  religious  feeling.  Old  associations 
lingered  round  its  venerable  walls,  and  linked  them- 
selves to  great  historic  names,  as  in  our  modern 
Oxford,  till  those  even  owned  the  glamour  of  the 
ancient  city,  whose  reason  had  rebelled  against  its 
outworn  dogmas.  We  may  read,  therefore,  of  a  long 
round  of  special  times,  like  the  holy  seasons  and  the 
saints'  days  of  our  modern  calendars,  which  were  all 
of  interest  to  the  young  men  at  College,  not  as  holi- 
days from  earnest  work,  but  as  days  of  ceremonial 
observance.  At  some  they  walked  in  military  guise, 
like  Hungarian  students  at  the  Stephan's  fest,  march- 


and  many 

holy  sea-" 
sons  were 
observed. 


The  College  System.  9 

ing  through  the  streets  of  Pesth  with  their  swords 
buckled  to  their  sides  ;  at  some  they  moved  in  slow 
procession  with  their  lighted  torches,  like  an  Acade- 
mic club  of  Germany ;  at  other  times  they  joined 
in  a  thanksgiving  service  or  State  prayers  for  a 
victory  won  centuries  before,  like  that  of  Marathon, 
engaging  in  mimic  contests  to  revive  the  excitement 
of  the  past ;  while,  in  honour  of  the  triumphs  won  upon 
the  sea  at  Salamis,  they  raced  over  the  waters,  and 
made  processions  with  their  boats,  as  in  later  ages  on 
the  Isis  or  the  Cam.  In  most  of  these,  as  on  other  Their 
State  occasions,  they  wore  the  same  official  dress  dress. 
which  distinguished  them  from  all  beside.  '  To  put 
the  gown  on,'  or,  as  we  should  say,  '  to  be  a  gowns- 
man,' was  the  phrase  which  stood  for  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  College  ;  and  the  gown,  too,  was  of  black, 
as  commonly  among  ourselves. 

But  Philostratus  tells  us,  by  the   way,   that  a  Phiio*- 

tratus, 

change  was  made  from  black  to  white  at  the  prompt-  «•  an,  «•»!. 

Trttlmer. 

ing  of  Herodes  Atticus,  the  munificent  and  learned 
subject  of  the  Antonines,  who  was  for  many  years  the 
presiding  genius  of  the  University  of  Athens.  The 
fragment  of  an  inscription  lately  found  curiously 
confirms  and  supplements  the  writer's  statement. 
Herodes,  it  would  seem,  did  not  only  introduce  the 
more  auspicious  colour,  but  defrayed  himself  the 
expenses  of  the  charge,  and  is  represented  in  the 


10      University  Life  in  Ancient  At  liens. 

contemporary  document  as  saying,  '  While  I  am  living 
you  shall  never  want  white  robes.'  Some  may 
possibly  remember  the  attempt  made  nearly  twenty 
years  ago  to  introduce  a  seemlier  form  of  gown  for 
use  among  the  Commoners  of  Oxford  ;  but  no  Herodes 
Oxoniensis  volunteered  to  meet  the  objection  of  ex- 
pense, and  so  make  the  change  easier  for  slender 
purses. 
Theyprob-  The  members  of  the  College  are  spoken  of  as 

ably  lived 

ogether.  '  friends  '  and  '  messmates  ;  '  and  it  is  probable  that 
some  form  of  conventual  life  prevailed  among  them, 
without  which  the  drill  and  supervision,  which  are 
constantly  implied  in  the  inscriptions,  could  scarcely 
^ave  ^een  en^orce^  ^  *ue  officials.  But  we  know 


Their  use 

nothing  o 

>  which  in  all  Greek  towns  were  the  centres 


°vmnasia     nothing  of  any  public  buildings  for  their  use  save  the 


training"*1  °^  educational  routine,  and  of  which  there  were  several 
well  known  at  Athens.  Drawing,  as  they  did,  their 
name  from  the  bodily  exercises  for  which  they  bad 
been  first  provided,  and  serving  in  this  respect  for  men 
as  well  as  boys,  they  were  used  also  for  the  culture  of 
the  mind.  Public  lecturers  of  every  kind  resorted  to 
them,  philosophy  sought  to  gain  a  hearing  in  their 
halls,  and  rival  systems  even  took  their  names  from 
buildings  such  as  these,  where  they  catered  for  the  in- 
tellect, while  trainers  a  few  yards  off  were  drilling  the 
body  in  the  laws  of  healthy  work.  One  such  especi- 


The  College  System.  1 1 

ally,  the  Diogeneum,  served  as  a  centre  of  stirring 
College  life ;  the  President,  who  had  the  charge  of  it, 
is  one  of  the  officials  often  mentioned.  Here  probably 
they  had  a  College  library,  as  also  certainly  in  another 
called  the  Ptolema^um.  In  such  gymnasia  a  variety  of 
trainers  were  employed  to  call  out  the  physical  powers 
in  the  full  energy  of  balanced  life.  Here  the  youths 
qualified  themselves  as  marksmen  in  the  use  of  the 
javelin  and  the  bow,  and  a  separate  instructor  was 
appointed  in  each  case.  Here,  too,  they  were  prac- 
tised in  the  drill  which  was  to  fit  them  for  their 
Grand  Parades,  at  which  the  public  would  look  on, 
and  the  Chief  Minister  of  State  preside.  Athletic 
sports  of  every  kind  found  in  such  scenes  a  natural 
home.  They  were  encouraged,  almost  prescribed  in 
this  case,  by  the  government,  which  showed  a  lively 
interest  in  what  was  done.  Here,  too,  the  students 
fell  into  their  ranks  as  Volunteers,  and  marched  out 
to  form  an  escort  for  some  distinguished  stranger 
who  favoured  Athens  with  a  visit.  Or  they  formed 
themselves  into  a  guard  of  honour,  and  kept  order 
in  the  sittings  of  the  National  Assemblies,  listening 
meantime  to  the  course  of  the  debates,  and  gaining 
betimes  an  insight  into  the  business  of  public  life, 
and  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  prominent 
statesmen  of  the  day.  But  they  had  their  livelier 
spectacles  at  times.  They  went  to  the  theatre  to 


12      University  Life  in  Ancient  Atficns. 


They  had 

to  attend 
lectures ; 


but  at  the 
courses  of 
the  public 
professors 


fltrenoanee 
wa>  im- 
partially 
encouraged, 


see  the  play  together,  and  there  they  had,  we  read, 
their  proper  places  kept  for  them  in  a  sort  of  Under- 
graduates'  Gallery. 

They  had  their  lectures  also  to  attend,  in  their 
own  gymnasia  or  in  other  buildings  of  the  kind ;  for 
they  were  not  allowed  to  slight  the  chances  of  intel- 
lectual progress  in  the  eager  love  of  races,  sports, 
and  volunteering.  Some  sort  of  certificate  of  attend- 
ance at  the  courses  was  seemingly  required. 

But  in  this  respect,  at  least,  the  College  did  not 
try  to  monopolise  the  education  of  its  students.  It 
had,  indeed,  its  own  tutors  or  instructors,  but  they 
were  kept  for  humbler  drill ;  it  did  not  even  for  a 
long  time  keep  an  organist  or  choirmaster  of  its  own  ; 
it  sent  its  students  out  for  teaching  in  philosophy 
and  rhetoric  and  grammar,  or,  in  a  word,  for  all  the 
larger  and  more  liberal  studies.  Nor  did  it  favour  any 
special  set  of  tenets  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest.  It 
encouraged  impartially  all  the  schools  of  higher 
thought.  One  document  which  we  possess  speaks 
approvingly  of  the  young  men's  attendance  in  the 
lecture-hall  of  a  Professor  who  expounded  seemingly 
the  Stoic  system,  but  it  goes  on  to  note  that 
they  were  present  also  at  the  courses  given  by  Plato- 
nists  and  Aristotelians  alike.  The  context  even 
would  imply  that  they  went  together  in  a  body, 
attended  by  their  Head,  and  listened  to  the  lectures 


The  College  System.  13 

of  all  the  Professors  ;  or,  as  the  inscriptions  more 
than  once  record,  of  all  the  philosophers  who 
taught  their  theories  in  public.  The  College  had 
no  fear,  it  seems,  of  critical  enquiry  and  free  thought, 
though  it  may,  perhaps,  have  overtasked  the  receptive 
powers  of  its  students.  One  only  of  the  great  his-  except  the 

Epicurean. 

toric  systems  was  ignored,  perhaps  as  likely  to  be 
pushed  too  far  by  inexperienced  minds  to  some  ex- 
treme of  dangerous  licence,  or  rank  impatience  of 
control.  No  mention  is  ever  made  of  the  theories  of 
Epicurus,  which  were  judged,  probably,  unfit  for 
the  youths  who  were  still '  in  statu  pupillari?  The 
appetite  for  knowledge  thus  excited  could  be  ill 
satisfied  with  a  few  months  of  lectures ;  but,  though 
the  discipline  so  far  described  lasted  only  for  a  year, 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  them  from  carrying  on 
their  interest  in  high  thought.  As  students  unat- 
tached they  might  linger  for  years  round  the  same 
lecture-halls,  busy  themselves  with  the  same  un- 
solved problems,  and  in  their  turn  hold  conferences 
on  great  occasions,  or  aspire  to  fill  some  public  Chair 
of  Morals  or  Philology. 

The  term,  indeed,  was  far  too  short  for  such  a  The  term  <>i 
multifarious  training,  which  was  at  once  gymnastic,  }\fe  ^ 
martial,  intellectual,  and  moral;  but  many  even  in  vtiys 
those  days  were  reluct  ant,  it  would  seem,  to  postpone 
the  active  work  of  life  in  the  interests  of  higher  cul- 
ture. 


14      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

imt  the  ex-         As  it  is,  the  names  of  the   old  families  figure 

"derabie.      most  upon  the  registers  ;  for  there  were  other  forms 

of  outlay,  besides  the  expenditure  of  valuable  time, 

to  deter  the  less  opulent  of  the  middle  classes.     We 

College        read  nothing  indeed  of  College  dues,  or  of  the  sums 

dues. 

paid  for  batells  by  the  students  ;  and  more  than  once 
the  authorities  are  praised  in  the  inscriptions  for 
lowering,  if  not  remitting  altogether,  certain  charges. 
It  is  possible  that  the  expense  was  partly  met  by  a 
grant  of  public  money,  or  by  some  form  of  endow- 
ment ;  and  the  mention  that  recurs  of  the  sacrifices 
in  the  memory  of  past  benefactors  seems  to  point  to 
this  conclusion,  while  it  reminds  us  of  the  Bidding 
Prayer  in  which  we  hear  the  names  of  the  pious 
founders  of  old  time.  But  of  the  accounts,  which  were 
to  be  audited  each  year  in  public  by  some  officials  of 
the  State,  it  is  most  likely  that  the  payments  of  the 
young  men  themselves  formed  an  important  item. 
Payment  to  Nor  did  their  expenses  end  with  those  for  board 
library.  or  for  tuition.  Each  must  pay  his  quota  to  provide 
a  hundred  volumes  yearly  for  the  College  library, 
which  was  stored,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  gymnasium. 
Their  piety  must  be  attested  by  liberal  offerings  to 
the  Mother  of  the  Gods  and  Dionysus,  and  some- 
times, too,  to  other  powers.  Nor  was  it  left  to 
them  to  give  at  their  free  will ;  but  a  decree  is  quoted 
which  defined  the  amount  to  be  expended,  somewhat 


The  College  System.  1 5 

as  a  few  years  back  at  Oxford  the  Chapel  offertory  Offertory, 
was  charged  in  College  batells.  Each  generation 
left  behind  it  year  by  year  the  pieces  of  gold  and 
silver  plate  which,  duly  emblazoned  doubtless  with 
their  names,  were  stored  up — not  in  the  College 
buttery,  but  in  the  treasury  of  some  temple. 
Four  costly  goblets  of  the  kind,  we  read  in  one  in- 
scription, were  presented  by  the  students  of  a  single 
year. 

The  Kectors,  too,  who  did  their  duty,  must  re-  Testi- 
ceive  some  sort  of  testimonial,  and  have  their  bronze 
or  marble  statues  presented  to  them  by  their  grateful 
pupils,  as  men  accept  their  pictures  nowadays.  It 
became  at  last  a  customary  thing,  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  record  of  each  year ;  and  therefore  the  honour 
was  but  trifling,  though  the  cost  was  real,  and  the 
omission  was  a  slight. 

Then,  again,  there  was  the  cost  of  their  uniforms 
and  arms,  which  must  be  of  the  gayest  on  parade, 
when  they  were  playing  at  the  soldiers'  trade.  The 
wealthier  among  the  members,  we  are  told,  were  en- 
couraged by  the  authorities  to  show  their  public  feel- 
ing in  promoting  common  interests,  and  so,  doubtless, 
spent  their  money  freely  to  give  eclat  to  their  games 
or  their  processions.  The  office  of  Gymnasiarch  Athletic 

sports. 

especially  is   recorded  as  the  privilege  of  men  of 
means,  who  fostered  the  athletic  sports ;  and  if  not 


1 6      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


Sconces. 


The  final 
examina- 
tions. 


ix.  1. 


'"  the 

Senate- 

house. 


in  that  respect,  at  least  in  others,  may  remind  us  of 
the  captain  of  a  modern  cricket  club,  or  of  a  College 
eight. 

Something,  too,  there  is  which  reads  as  if  there 
had  been  sconces  or  fines  imposed  by  the  members 
on  each  other,  in  support  of  social  rules  or  codes  of 
honour  ;  but  these  were  looked  on  with  disfavour  from 
above,  as  likely  to  cause  jars  in  the  harmony  of 
friendly  intercourse;  and  one  rector,  at  least,  put 
them  down. 

At  length  the  year  drew  to  its  close,  and  with  it 
the  restraints  of  discipline  ;  but  one  ordeal  still  re- 
mained to  try  them.  There  is  no  new  thing  under 
the  sun,  and  we  find  that  there  were  examinations, 
even  in  old  times,  at  Athens.  Plutarch  tells  us  by 
the  way  that  the  Mayor  on  one  occasion  came  to  the 
gymnasium  to  examine  the  Ephebi  'who  studied 
literature  and  geometry,  rhetoric  and  music.'  The 
ceremony  ended  with  a  public  dinner  to  which  all 
the  college  tutors  \vere  invited  as  well  as  lecturers 
and  men  of  learning,  but  the  guests,  we  read,  were 
not  so  orderly  in  their  behaviour  as  might  have  been 
expected.  At  the  end  of  Term  the  town  council  was 
expected  to  attend,  and  hear  the  posers  do  their  work  ; 
or,  as  we  should  say  in  modern  language,  the  student 
sat  for  examination  in  the  Senate-house.  There  was, 
probably,  no  paper-work  required,  but  only  an  oral 


The  College  System.  \  7 

apposition  ;  it  may  be  even  that  the  phrase  chiefly 

refers  to  some  manual  exercises  or  parade,  more  than 

to  tests   of  intellectual   progress.     For  we  do  not  Class-lists. 

hear  of  any  class-lists  ;  or  rather  those  we  have,  and 

they  are  full  enough,  contain  the  names  only  of  the 

prizemen  in  the  races  and  athletic  sports,  and   do 

not  deal  with  the  cultivation  of  the  mind. 

In  any  case  they  do  not  seem  to  have  hurt  them-  ™*j.rh  r 
selves  with  their  hard  reading  ;  the  records  insist  upon  6tate 
the  perfect  health  enjoyed  by  all  the  youths,  as  fully 


as  if  we  had  the  extracts  of  a  sanitary  report.     They  and 

behaviour. 

were  models,  too,  of  good  behaviour,  those  pattern  stu- 
dents of  old  time,  if  we  may  trust  the  complimentary 
language  of  the  marbles.  They  went  to  lectures 
steadily,  and  listened  quietly  to  what  was  told  them, 
and  never  rioted  about  the  streets,  or  fell  out  in 
their  cups  like  vulgar  fellows  in  a  drunken  brawl, 
nor  failed  to  do  what  their  authorities  enjoined,  but 
6  were  quite  faultless  all  the  long  year  through.' 

We  may  naturally  ask  who  were  the  guardians 
of  a  discipline  so  perfect  as  to  seem  more  fitly  lodged 
in  some  cloister  of  Utopia. 

The  Head  of  the  College  held  the  title  of  Cos-  The  Coe- 
metes,  or  of  rector,  and  was  assisted  or  replaced  at  Head  'of  the 
times  by  a  sub-rector  ;  for  so  custom,  though  not  Iaw5 
required,  since  one  at  least  declined  to  have  a  formal 
deputy,   and   preferred    the   assistance   of  his   son. 

c 


1 8     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

There  were  also  various  instructors,  too  low  in  rank 
to  be  like  tutors,  though  for  convenience  we  may 
call  them  by  that  name*  The  Rector,  appointed 
only  for  a  year  by  popular  election,  was  no  merely 
honorary  head,  but  took  an  important  part  in  the 
real  work  of  education.  He  was  sometimes  clothed 
with  priestly  functions  ;  was,  as  we  should  say  in 
Holy  Orders  ;  and  never  failed,  so  we  are  often  told, 
to  be  present  at  religious  service.  He  went  to  lec- 
tures even  with  the  men,  attending  sometimes  all 
the  public  courses  with  exemplary  diligence.  But 
that  was  not  enough.  He  must  go  to  drill  with  them 
at  their  volunteering ;  must  visit,  at  their  head,  the 
watch-towers  and  outposts  on  the  frontier,  where  the 
Ephebi  had  been  posted  in  old  days ;  he  must  look 
on  at  their  gymnastic  feats,  and  see  that  they  were 
kept  in  proper  training,  and  were  very  careful  to 
avoid  all  coarse  and  indecorous  language;  arid  he 
must  even  take  some  part,  as  starter  or  as  judge  per- 
haps, in  their  boat-races. 

He  must  be  a  man  of  substance,  to  play  his  part 
becomingly,  for  there  were  expenses  which  he  could 
not  well  avoid.  He  often  bore  the  cost  himself  of 
the  religious  services  of  his  own  College,  paying 
for  the  victims  for  the  sacrifice.  He  subscribed  to- 
wards the  silver  plate  which  was  the  customary 
offering,  and  in  other  ways  lightened  the  burdens  on 


The  College  System.  19 

the  students.  When  the  outer  wall  of  their  gym- 
nasium fell  into  ruins,  the  Rector  of  the  day  rebuilt 
it  at  his  own  expense;  and  though  he  thankfully 
accepted  from  his  pupils  the  complimentary  present 
of  his  statue,  yet  he  did  not  forget  to  pay  for  it 
himself. 

Some,  however,  of  the  work  of  supervision  de-  TheSo- 
volved  upon  the  Sophronistse,  or  the  proctors,  who  Jr  proctors, 
were  charged  specially  with  the  moral  guidance  of 
the  youths,  and  to  whose  constant  watchfulness  the 
orderly  behaviour  often  spoken  of  was  largely  due. 
The  tutors,  or  instructors,  were  specialised,  as  we  Tutors. 
have  seen,  to  definite  work;  each  was  told  off  to  deal 
with  a  single  set  of  muscles,  or  some  physical  apti- 
tude or  grace,  and  therefore  they  scarcely  rose  above 
the  rank  of  trainers,  or  of  fencing  or  dancing  masters. 
At  first  appointed  by  each  rector  only  for  a  year, 
they   gradually  obtained  a  longer  hold  upon  their 
places,  till  they  gained  a  sort  of    vested  right,  and 
held  their  offices  for  life. 

The  Rector  had  his  accounts  at  last  to  pass  before  Th« 
official  auditors  appointed  by  the  State.    That  done  accounts 
with  credit,  he  might  return  to  private  life  after  one 
year   of  responsible   routine;   but  he   was    seldom 
allowed  to  lay  down  office   without  some   mark  of 
honour,  if  he  had  done  hia  duty  faithfully,  and  not 
been  too  unpopular  among  his  pupils.     Some  one  in 

C2 


2O      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

the  general  assembly  was  sure  to  propose  a  vote  of 
thanks,  couched  in  the  most  complimentary  terms, 
to  the  rector  and  all  the  officials  of  the  year. 
The  vote  of         The  motion  was  carried  without  fail,   and   em- 
the  public     bodied  formally  in  a  decree.     So  flattering  a  proof  of 
merit  was  not  allowed  to  remain  buried  in  the  dusty 
archives.     It  was  reproduced  in  more  enduring  form 
in  stone,  and  posted,  probably  where  all  might  read 
it,  in  the  gymnasium  of  the   College,  whose   walls 
'were  made  to  serve  as  a  gazette  of  academic  news. 
The  in-        The  custom  was  observed  from  year  to  year,  till  the 
marble  slabs  spread  over  a  large  area  of  masonry  ;  and 


such  votes.  .  -  ,.  i       ,1  /%  ,, 

as  in  course  of  time,  by  the  ravages  of  war,  or  the 
processes  of  slow  decay,  the  buildings  crumbled  into 
ruins,  the  storied  fragments  were  strewn  upon  the 
ground  and  covered  over,  till  history  lost  sight  of 
them  for  ages.  But  gradually  one  after  another 
reappeared  ;  and,  as  the  ardour  of  antiquarian  research 
revived  at  Athens  in  our  own  days,  a  lengthy  series  was 
at  length  pieced  together  and  arranged,  extending. 
though  not  of  course  in  an  unbroken  order,  from  the 
Macedonian  period  to  the  third  century  of  our  era. 
We  may  gain  a  clearer  insight  into  the  social  man- 
ners of  the  times,  if  we  take  the  trouble  to  read  over 
one  of  the  decrees  as  a  characteristic  member  of  the 
series  in  question.  The  document  is  dated  from  the 
8th  of  the  month  Boedromion,  and  the  year,  as  indi- 


The  College  System.  2 1 

cated  by  the  Archon's  name,  belongs  probably  to  the 
beginning  of  the  first  century  before  our  era. 

Aphrodisius,  the  son  of  Aphrodisius  the  Azenian,  A  vote  <>f 
moved  : — '  That  whereas  the  Ephebi  of  last  year  sacri-  proposed  in 
ficed  duly  at  their  matriculation  in  the  Guildhall,  Dumont 
by  the  sacred  fire  of  the  City,  in  the  presence  of  their  Eph.ii.16t. 
Rector  and  the  Priests  of  the  People  and  the  Pontiffs, 
according  to  the  laws  and  decrees,  and  conducted 
the  procession  in  honour  of  Artemis  the  Huntress, 
.  .  .  and  took  part  in  others  of  like  kind,  and  ran 
in  the  curLornary  torch-races,  and  escorted  the 
statue  of  Pallas  to  Phalerum,  and  helped  to  bring  it 
back  again,  and  light  it  on  its  way  in  perfect  order, 
and  carried  Dionysus  also  from  his  shrine  into  the 
theatre  in  like  fashion,  and  brought  a  bull  worthy 
of  the  God  at  the  Dionysiac  festival,  *  .  .  and  took 
part  in  all  due  offerings  to  our  Gods  and  our  Bene- 
factors, as  the  laws  and  the  decrees  ordain;  and  have 
been  regular  in  their  attendance  all  the  year  at  the 
gymnasia,  and  punctually  obeyed  their  Rector, 
thinking  it  of  paramount  importance  to  observe 
discipline,  and  to  study  diligently  what  the  People 
has  prescribed ; — whereas  there  has  been  no  ground 
for  complaint,  but  they  have  kept  all  the  rules  made 
by  their  Rector  and  their  Tutors,  and  have  attended 
without  fail  the  lectures  of  Zenodotus  in  the  Ptole- 
mseum  and  the  Lyceum,  as  also  those  of  all  the 


22      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

other  Professors  of  Philosophy  in  the  Lyceum  and 
Academy ;  and  have  mounted  guard  in  good  order  at 
the  popular  assemblies,  and  have  gone  out  to  meet 
our  Roman  friends  and  benefactors  on  their  visits: 
.  .  .  and  have  given  70  drachmae,  as  the  law  pro- 
vides, to  the  proper  functionaries  to  provide  the 
goblet  for  the  Mother  of  the  Gods,  and  offered  another 
also  in  the  temple  at  Eleusis ;  and  have  marched  out 
under  arms  to  the  Athenian  frontiers,  and  made 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  country  and  the 
roads,  .  .  .  and  have  gone  out  to  Marathon  and 
offered  their  garlands  and  said  prayers  at  the  shrine 
of  the  heroes  who  died  fighting  for  their  country's 
freedom ;  .  . . .  and  have  gone  on  shipboard  to  the 
feast  of  Aiantsea,  and  held  boat-races  and  processions 
there,  and  earned  the  praises  of  the  Salaminians, 
and  the  present  of  a  golden  crown  because  of  their 
good  discipline  and  orderly  behaviour ; — and  whereas 
they  have  lived  in  friendly  harmony  all  the  year 
without  a  jar  as  their  Sector  wished,  and  have 
passed  their  Examinations  in  the  Senate  House  as 
the  law  requires ;  and  being  full  of  honourable 
ambition  and  desire  to  help  their  Rector  in  his 
public-spirited  endeavours  to  promote  the  public 
good  as  well  as  their  own  credit,  they  have  taken 
in  hand  one  of  the  old  catapults  that  was  out  of 
gear,  and  repairing  it  at  their  own  expense,  have 


The  College  System.  23 

learnt  once  more  how  to  use  the  engine,  the  practice 
of  which  had  been  disused  for  years ;  and  in  all  other 
matters  have  conducted  themselves  with  all  pro- 
priety, and  have  provided  all  that  was  required  for 
the  religious  services  of  their  own  gymnasia — to 
show  the  wish  of  the  Senate  and  the  People  to 
honour  them  for  their  merits  and  obedience  to  the 
laws  and  to  their  Rector,  in  their  first  year  of  adult 
life,  the  Senate  is  agreed  to  instruct  the  Presidents 
of  the  next  assembly  following,  to  lay  before  the 
People  for  approval  the  Resolution  of  the  Senate  to 
pass  an  honorary  vote  in  praise  of  the  Ephebi  of  last 
year,  and  to  present  them  with  a  golden  crown  for 
their  constant  piety  and  discipline  and  public  spirit, 
and  to  compliment  their  Tutors,  their  trainer  Timon, 
and  the  fencing  master  Satyrus,  and  the  marksman 
Nicander,  and  the  bowman  Asclepiades,  and  Calche- 
don  the  instructor  in  the  catapults,  and  the  attend- 
ants, and  to  award  a  crown  of  leaves  to  each ;  and  to 
have  the  decree  engraved  by  the  Secretary  for  the 
time  being  on  two  pillars  of  stone,  to  be  placed  one 
in  the  Market-plac'e,  and  the  second  wherever  may 
seem  best.' 

Again,  a  few  days  afterwards,  in  a  regular  assem-  A  decree 
bly  in  the  theatre,  one  of  the  presidents  put  to  the  assembly, 
vote  the  following  resolution  of  the  Senate  and  the 
people : — '  Whereas  the  People  always  has  a  hearty 


24      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

interest  in  the  training  and  discipline  of  the  Ephebi, 
hoping  that  the  rising  generation  may  grow  up  to 
be  men  able  to  take  good  care  of  their  fatherland, 
and  has  passed  laws  to  require  them  to  gain  a  know- 
ledge of  the  country,  of  the  guardposts  and  of  the 
frontiers,  and  to  train  themselves  as  soldiers  in  the 
use  of  arms,  thanks  to  which  discipline  the  City  has 
been  decked  with  many  glories  and  imposing  tro- 
phies ;  and  whereas  on  this  account  the  People  has 
always  chosen  a  Rector  of  unblemished  character, 
and  accordingly  last  year  Dionysius  the  son  of 
Socrates,  the  Phylasian,  had  the  care  of  the  Ephebi 
entrusted  to  him  by  the  People,  and  duly  sacrificed 
with  them  at  their  matriculation,  .  .  .  and  has  trained 
them  worthily,  keeping  them  constantly  engaged  at 
the  gymnasia,  and  making  them  all  efficient  in  their 
drill,  and  insisting  on  decorum,  that  they  should  not 
fail  throughout  the  year  in  obedience  to  the  Generals, 
the  Tutors  and  himself;  and  whereas  he  has  watched 
over  their  habits  of  order  and  of  self-control,  taking 
them  with  him  to  the  Professors' Lectures,  and  being 
present  always  at  their  courses  of  instruction  ,  .  .  and 
whereas  he  has  also  roused  their  public  spirit  by  teach- 
ing them  to  be  good  marksmen  with  the  catapult,  and 
accompanied  them  in  their  rounds  to  the  guardposts 
and  the  frontiers  .  .  .  and  has  arranged  the  boat- 
races  in  the  processions  at  Munychia  .  .  .  and  also 


The  College  System.  25 

the  footraces  in  the  gymnasia,  and  the  escorts  of 
honour  for  our  Roman  friends  and  allies  .  .  .  and 
re  vie  we<l  them  on  parade  at  the  Theseia  and  Epita- 
plna  .  .  .  and  has  been  vigilant  in  all  cases  to  main- 
tain their  pride,  heing  constant  in  attendance  on 
them  through  the  year,  and  lias  watched  over  their 
studies,  and  ruled  them  with  impartial  justice,  keep- 
ing them  in  sound  health  and  friendly  intercourse, 
treating  them  with  a  father's  care — in  return  for  all  of 
which  the  Ephebi  have  presented  him  with  a  golden 
crown  and  a  bronze  statue,  to  show  their  sense  of  his 
character  and  loving  care ;  and  whereas  he  has 
passed  his  accounts  as  the  law  requires,  the  Senate 
and  the  People  wishing  to  show  due  honour  to  such 
Rectors  as  serve  with  merit  and  impartiality,  Resolve 
to  praise  Dionysias,  late  Rector  of  the  Ephebi  of 
last  year  and  to  present  him  with  a  golden  crown, 
and  have  proclamation  made  thereof  in  the  great 
festival  of  Dionysus,  as  also  at  the  athletic  contests 
of  the  Panathanaic  and  Eleusinian  feasts.' 

In  conclusion  we  may  briefly  note 

1.  The  system  of  education  thus  described  was  The  system 
under  the  control  of  the  government  throughout.         described 

'  The   laws    and    the    decrees '   were    constantly  imtidnai 

.     ,  .  one  under 

appealed   to  in   the   records,   not   as   guaranteeing  the  control 

of  the 

corporate  status,    or    securing   rights  of  property,   state, 
but  as  organising  and  defining  all  the  essentials  of 


2  6      University  L  ife  in  A  ncien  t  A I  kens. 


Our  infor- 
mation is 
drawn 
almost  ex- 
clusively 
from  the 
in-=crip- 
tiens, 


which  are 
minute  in 
their 
details, 


the  institution.  They  insisted  that  a  religious  influ- 
ence should  be  exerted,  prescribing  even  the  ritual 
established  by  the  State ;  they  claimed  the  right  to 
interfere  with  the  details,  to  correct  and  to  reward 
the  chief  officials.  Ik  was  a  truly  national  system 
under  government  inspection,  though  largely  supple- 
mented by  voluntary  action. 

2.  It  may  surprise  us  that  our  information  comes 
almost  entirely  from  the  inscriptions,  and  that  ancient 
writers  are  all  nearly  silent   on  the  subject.     The 
later  Athenian  comedy,  indeed,  if  that  were  left  to 
us,  would  probably  refer  to  it  in  illustration  of  the 
social  manners  of  the  times.     But  there  was  little  to 
attract   the  literary  circles  in  arrangements  so  me- 
chanical  and  formal ;  there  was  too  much  of  out- 
ward pageantry,   and   too   little   of  real  character 
evolved ;    the  professorial  teaching  was  a  mere  ex- 
crescence  of    the   system;    the   Rectors   passed    so 
rapidly  across  the  stage  that  none  could  stamp  any 
marked  impress  of  his  genius  on  it ;  and  originality 
must  have  been  cramped  by  the  strait-waistcoat  of 
rigid  forms. 

3.  Strangely  enough,  our  information  does   not 
end  even  with  all  the  complimentary  phrases,    of 
which  a  sample  has  been  given  in  the   foregoing 
decree.       There   is   specified    sometimes  the   exact 
number  of  the  members  of  the  College ;  and  more 


The  College  System.  27 

or    less    lengthy   fragments    are    still    left   of  the 
muster  rolls,  in  which  the  proper  names  and   the 
nationalities  of  each  are   stated.     The   native-born  giving  the 
and  aliens  are  distinguished  in  the  different  lists  ;  the  and  names 
varying  proportions  serve  to  mark  the  times  when  students, 
this  special  type  of  education  rose  and  fell  in  popular 
esteem   elsewhere.     In  the   second  century   of  our 
era  when  more  than  one  hundred  strangers  some- 
times matriculated  in  the  same  year,  only  two  or 
three   Roman  names  occur,  while  the  great  towns 
of   Asia   Minor   and   the   isles  of  the   JEgean   are 
constantly   appearing.     The   Roman   character  was 
still  too  unimaginative  and  commonplace  to  prize 
the  varied   attractiveness   of  life   at   Athens.     But 
the  Syrian  populations  flocked  to  her,  the  men  of 
Ascalon  and  Bcrytus  above  all,  disguising  partially 
their  native  names  in  a  Greek  dress.     It  is  of  special 
interest  to  note  that  at  the  very  time  when  a  new  and  show- 
religious   influence  was   spreading   from   the   East,  there  were 
there   is   so  much   evidence  of  fusion   between  the  Semitic 

r&cG 

Greek  and  the  Semitic  culture.  In  the  last  the 
Jews  played  probably  no  unimportant  part;  they 
abounded  in  all  the  rrmts  of  trade  and  crowded 
cities ;  and,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages  at  the  schools  of 
Cordova  and  Bagdad,  they  may  have  served  to  some 
extent  as  dragomans  between  the  East  and  West. 
But  only  a  small  proportion  of  such  foreign  students 


28      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens^ 

entered  as  Ephebi,  for  the  out-College  system  seem- 
ingly was  most  in  favour,  and  of  the  multitudes  who 
flocked  to  Athens,  and  stayed  there  for  long  years, 
by  far  the  most  were  unattached,  choosing  their  own 
course  of  reading  and  their  private  tutors,  without 
any  check  of  examinations  or  degrees.  It  is  time  to 
turn  to  the  character  and  methods  of  their  studies, 
and  to  deal  with  the  larger  anl  the  most  important 
sections  of  our  subject. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PROFESSORS    OF   PHILOSOPHY. 

FEW  subjects  in  Athenian  history  are  better  known  The  four 
than  the  characteristic  features  of  the  four  great  schools  of 
schools  of  thought,  which  differently  developed  the 
same  Socratic  teaching.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
describe  their  principles  or  method,  or  to  ask  how  it 
was  that  such  divergent  streams  of  influence  as  those 
which  flowed  from  Plato  and  from  Aristotle,  from 
Epicurus  and  from  Zenon,  can  be  ultimately  traced 
to  the  same  fountain  head.  But  it  is  more  im- 
portant for  us  to  enquire  how  each  maintained  its 
separate  existence,  and  organised  itself  in  outward 
forms  through  which  it  acted  on  the  world. 

One  of  the  first  needs  was,  in  each  case,  a  sort  of 
authorised  version  of  their  philosophic  creed;  but 
the  written  word  was  not  enough  :  the  writings  of 
their  founder,  canonical  as  they  might  be,  could  not 
content  them ;  they  must  have  a  living  voice  to 
expand  and  illustrate  the  truth,  to  stimulate  by  the 
contagious  influence  of  strong  conviction,  and  meet 


30      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
The  system  objections  from  all  quarters.      It  is  not  too  much  to 

of  succes- 
sion in  the     say,  perhaps,  that  they  believed  in  a  sort  of  Aposto- 

masters  of 

each  school,  Heal  succession  in  their  midst.  Each  master  of  the 
school  was  the  living  guardian  of  the  Ark  of  Truth, 
in  the  fulness  of  an  undivided  trust,  to  be  supreme 
in  matters  of  the  Faith. 

Each  handed  on  the  lighted  torcli  to  his  succes- 
sor, that  the  sacred  fire  of  truth  might  not  be  spent ; 
each,  probably,  believed  himself  to  be  the  depositor} 
of  unchanged  traditions,  though  all  the  world  of 
thought  was  on  the  move.  He  chose  commonly 
another  who  might  fill  his  place  when  he  was  gone. 
Sometimes  he  waited  till  his  death-bed,  sometimes 
before  the  ruling  spirit  passed  away,  the  prophet's 
mantle  fell  on  his  successor's  shoulders.  Sometimes 
in  his  will  he  named  a  follower  to  replace  him ;  or 
even  put  the  office  in  commission  for  awhile,  till  the 
trusty  few  had  made  their  choice.  Once  made,  it 

religiously    seems  to  have  been  religiously  respected  by  the  rest. 

by  the  chief  Some  jealous  criticism  there  may,  perhaps,  have  been 

members  of 

the  sect.  at  times,  by  spirits  more  than  commonly  impatient ; 
but  it  was  seldom  that  any  ventured  to  dispute  his 
claims  to  their  obedience,  or  to  set  up  a  rival  oracle 
beside  him.  Many  even  of  the  greatest  names 
appear  to  have  waited  quietly  as  greybeards,  till  a 
vacancy  was  made  by  death,  and  they  were  called  to 
assume  the  foremost  place. 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          3 1 

Of  the  long  list  of  names  recorded  in  the  biogra- 
phies of  Diogenes  Laertius,  we  hear  only  of  one  who 
set  up  for  himself,  when  the  head  of  his  school  was 
still  alive.  Chrysippus  had  so  much  vanity  of  self-  D.L.VH.  7. 
assertion,  or  was  so  full  of  missionary  zeal,  that  he 
made  himself  a  master  of  the  conferences  while 
Oieanthes  was  still  living.  But  in  later  days,  we  are 
told,  he  rued  his  fault,  and  owned  that  the  one  thing 
which  he  regretted  was  undutiful  behaviour  to  his 
teacher.  Another,  Grantor,  withdrew  himself  on  D.L.  iv.  5. 
grounds  of  health  from  the  friendly  company  of 
sages,  and  it  was  expected  that  he  wculd  ere  long 
be  heard  of  as  an  independent  teacher  at  the  As- 
clepeium ;  but,  the  cure  effected,  he  returned  to  the 
old  lecture-halls,  to  swell  the  audience  of  his  chief, 
till  he  was  called  at  last  to  take  the  lead. 

We  have  seen  already  that  they  chose  for  their  They 
lectures  and  discussions  the  public  buildings  which  ^public* 
were  called  gymnasia,  of  which  there  were  several  &m 
in  different  quarters  of  the  city.     They  could  only 
use  them  by  the  sufferance  of  the  State,  which  had 
built  them  chiefly  for  bodily  exercises  and  athletic 
feats.     We  do  not  hear  if  the  trainers  and  the  fenc- 
ing masters  resented  the  intrusion  of  the  throngs  of 
students,  though  it  is  likely  that  there  were  chances 
of  collision.      But  we  do  hear,  in  one  case,  of  com- 
plaints that  their  neighbours  were  disturbed.    One 


32       University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

D.L.iv.9.4.  Grymnasiarch,   or  curator  of  the   hall,   had  to  beg 
oi-cnsionai    Carneades  not  to  talk  so  loudly  to  his  pupils,  as  he 

complaint*. 

was  annoying  other  folks.  *  How  loudly  may  I 
speak,  then  ? *  said  the  lecturer,  in  impatience.  fi  Loud 
enough  for  your  audience  to  hear,'  was  the  retort ; 
and  perhaps  the  audience  was  not  large,  and  the  re- 
tort was  somewhat  sharp.  Before  long  several  of  the 
schools  drew  themselves  apart  in  special  buildings, 
and  even  took  their  most  familiar  names,  such  as  the 
Lyceum  and  the  Academy,  from  the  gymnasia,  in 
which  they  made  themselves  at  home. 
Ruriimen-  Gradually  we  find  the  traces  of  some  material 

tary  forms 

of  endow-     provisions,  which  helped  to  define  and  to  perpetuate 

ment  in  the 

Platonic       the  different  sects.     Plato  had  a  little  garden,  close 
sect  ' 

by  the  sacred  Eleusinian  Way,  in  the  shady  groves 

De  exilio,     of  the  Academy,  which  he  bought,  says  Plutarch,  for 
some  3,000  drachmae. 

There  lived  also  his  successors,  Xenocrates  and 
Polemon,  the  former  of  whom  spent  there  BO  much 
the  life  of  a  recluse,  as  to  leave  it  only  for  a  single 
day  each  year,  at  the  festival  of  the  greater  Dionysia, 
when  the  new  plays  were  acted;  while  the  latter 
gathered  pupils  round  him,  who  listened  to  him  as 

D.  L.  iv.       he  walked  under  the  trees,  and  who  even  had  their 

3.  5. 

little  huts  built  there  to  live  as  near  as  might  be  round 
his  garden.  It  was  but  a  tiny  glebe  at  first ;  but 
wealthier  friends  of  learning  added  from  time  to 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          33 
time  to  the  domain,  or  bequeathed  in  their  wills  the  Suidas, ».  v. 

nxdrwv. 

funds  which  provided  for  the  chief  philosophers  of 
Plato's  school  a  quiet  life  of  independent  means. 

Aristotle,  as  we  know,  in  later  life  had  taught  in  in  the  Aris- 
totelian. 

the  Lyceum,  in  the  rich  grounds  near  the  Ilissus, 
and  there  he  probably  possessed  the  house  and  garden 
which  after  his  death  came  into  the  hands  of  his 
successor,  Theophrastus.  The  latter  in  his  will  dis-  D.  L.  v.  2. 
posed  of  them  as  follows  : — '  My  garden  and  the 
walk,  and  all  the  buildings  which  adjoin  the  glebe, 
I  bequeath  to  such  of  my  friends,  herein  described, 
who  care  to  pass  their  lives  in  them  together  in 
study  and  philosophy,  on  condition  that  no  one  shall 
alienate  or  make  any  individual  claim  ;  but  that  all 
shall  share  alike,  and  live  in  domestic  peace  to- 
gether, as  is  natural  and  right.'  Then  follow  the 
names  of  ten  of  his  most  trusted  friends,  and  among 
them  that  of  Straton,  who  replaced  him.  Straton,  in 
his  turn,  left  the  studio  to  Lycon,  *  for  the  rest  are  D.L.  v.3.7. 
too  old  or  too  busy ;  yet  they  will  but  do  their  duty  if 
they  strengthen  his  hands  with  kindly  help.'  Lycon 
bequeathed  the  garden  walk  to  ten  of  his  friends  in 
trust,  and  bade  them  raise  to  the  first  place  whoever 
seemed  most  likely  to  persevere  and  to  promote  the 
interests  of  the  sect.  He  also  asked  the  rest  of  the 
connexion  to  lend  their  aid  out  of  regard  to  him  as 
well  as  to  the  local  ties. 

D 


34      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
in  the  The  famous  garden  of  Epicurus   in    the  outer 

Epicurean. 

Keramicus,  which  he  bought  for  eighty  minae,  was  a 
quiet  resting-place,  not  for  himself  only,  but  for  the 
friends  who  gathered  there  for  shelter  in  hard  times, 
to  see  how  simply  the  advocate  of  pleasure  lived. 
He  left  it  at  his  death  for  the  members  of  his  school,  as 
the  will  tells  us,  which  Diogenes  Laertius  records  : — 
I).  L.X.I o.  'I  give  my  property  in  trust  to  Amynomachus  and 
Timocrates  on  the  condition  that  they  make  over  the 
use  of  the  garden,  and  all  that  it  contains,  to  Her- 
marchus,  and  those  who  join  his  speculations,  and  to 
such  as  he  may  choose  to  take  his  place,  that  they 
may  there  give  themselves  to  study ;  and,  moreover,  I 
beg  all  who  take  their  principles  from  me  to  do  their 
best  as  a  solemn  trust  to  help  Amynomachus  and 
Timocrates  to  maintain  the  school  buildings  in  my 
garden,  and  their  heirs  after  them,  as  also  those 
who  may  be  appointed  to  replace  my  own  successors. 
And  let  my  executors  allow  Hermarchus  and  his  fel- 
low students  to  inhabit  my  house  in  Melite  as  long 
as  he  shall  live.  And  out  of  the  funds  bequeathed 
by  me  I  will  that  my  executors,  in  concert  with  Her- 
marchus, provide  religious  services  for  my  father  and 
mother  and  brothers  and  myself,  .  .  .  and  also  for 
the  stated  meeting  to  be  held  on  the  20th  of  every 
month  by  all  the  members  of  my  sect.'  The  posses- 
sions here  disposed  of  seem  to  have  remained  for 


Tlie  Professors  of  Philosophy.          35 

centuries  the  property  of  all  the  sect  of  Epicurus, 
and  though  the  Garden,  and  the  groves  of  the  Aca- 
demy, were  wasted  sometimes  by  the  ravages  of  war, 
exposed  as  they  were  without  the  walls,  yet  in  the 
later  days  of  Cicero  those  haunts  of  old  philosophy 
were  often  visited  by  pious  pilgrims.  The  sentence 
last  quoted  from  the  will  of  Epicurus  may  remind  us 
that,  besides  the  common  property  in  house  and  lauds, 
some  funds  were  also  set  apart  to  keep  the  student 
world  together. 

It  seems  a  natural  thing  in  our  own  days  to  think  Endow- 
that  men  must  dine  together  when  they  would  pro-  philosophic 

dinners ; 

mote  some  common  interest  in  politics  or  art  or 
science,  and  every  company  or  club  must  have  at 
least  its  annual  dinner.  The  custom  is  a  very  old 
one,  and  even  philosophy  took  kindly  to  the  practice. 
Athenseus,  after  speaking  of  all  the  civic  banquets  Deipn.  v.  2. 
held  by  every  tribe  and  ward  and  borough,  goes  on 
to  note  that  '  there  are  many  meetings  of  philoso- 
phers in  the  city,  some  called  the  pupils  of  Diogenes, 
and  others  pupils  of  Antipater,  others,  again,  styled 
disciples  of  Pansetius.  And  Theophrastus  bequeathed 
money  for  an  entertainment  of  that  sort.  Not,  of 
course,  that  the  sages  so  assembled  might  give  way 
to  intemperance,  but  in  order  that  they  might  enjoy 
a  wise  and  learned  conversation  at  the  feast.  .  .  . 
The  philosophers  used  to  take  pains  to  collect  the 

D    2 


36      University  Life  in^  Ancient  Athens. 

young  men,  and  as  they  supped  with  them  to  ob- 
serve some  law  which  was  carefully  defined.  Ac- 
cordingly there  were  rules  for  banquets  laid  down 
by  Xenocrates,  in  the  Academy,  and  by  Aristotle 
also/  But  either  the  rules  were  very  lax,  or  they 

tended  to 

become  ex-  were   broken    before    lone:,  if  we  may  trust   what 

travagant. 

xiL  69.  Athenaeus  tells  us  in  another  place.  '  When  Lycon 
became  the  chief  man  in  the  Peripatetic  school,  he 
used  to  entertain  his  friends  at  dinner  with  unusual 
extravagance  and  pride.  .  .  .  He  had  a  room  large 
enough  to  hold  twenty  couches,  in  the  most  fashion- 
able quarter  of  the  city.  Besides  the  music  pro- 
vided for  his  feasts,  and  the  silver  plate  and  coverlets 
which  were  displayed,  the  dishes  were  so  sumptuous, 
and  the  tables  and  the  cooks  so  many,  that  people 
were  alarmed,  and  shrunk  away  in  fear,  although 
they  wished  to  be  admitted  to  his  school.  .  .  .  For 
the  members  were  required  to  take  in  turn  the  office 
of  chief  manager,  and  the  duties  of  this  office  were 
to  superintend  the  novices  for  thirty  days,  .  .  .  and 
then  on  the  last  day  of  the  month,  to  receive  from 
each  nine  obols,  and  to  entertain  at  supper  not  only 
those  who  paid  their  quota,  but  all  those  whom 
Lycon  might  invite,  as  well  as  those  among  the 
elders  who  were  punctual  in  attending  lectures  ;  so 
that  the  money  which  was  paid  them  did  not  go  far 
enough  to  pay  even  for  the  unguents  and  the  flowers. 


T/ie  Professors  of  Philosophy.          37 

...     Plato  and  Speusippus  had  not  instituted  these 

that   folks  might   sit  till  daybreak   at   the   festive 

board  .  .  .  but  that  men   might   seem  to  honour 

Heaven,  and  live  naturally  with  one  another,  and 

chiefly  that  they  might  enjoy  a  natural  rest  and  con- 

versation, all  which  became  quite  secondary  in  their 

eyes  to  soft    clothes,  and  extravagant  self-indulg- 

ence.'    It  was  perhaps  one  symptom  of  decline  in 

moral  earnestness  when  the  philosophers  accepted  the 

large  donations  of  Antigonus  Gronatas,  for  a  great 

dinner  on  the  anniversary  of  his  son's  death.     They  I>-  L.  iv.  6. 

waved  their  differences  of  creed,  we  hear,  and  dined 

together  in  good  fellowship,  and  each  master  of  the 

schools  became  in  turn  the  chairman  at  the  banquet  ; 

but  now  and  then  their  jealous  antipathies  could  not 

be  soothed,  and  one  at  least,  we  read  of,  Lycon,  would  D.L.v.^4, 

not  accept  the  invitation  to  a  rival's  table. 

As  yet  we  have  seen  no  forms  of  State  endow- 


recognition 

ment,  nor  even  any  legal  recognition  of  the  corporate  of  corporate 

rights  in 

status  of  the  sects.  Sometimes  the  little  property  the  8ects- 
was  possessed  by  their  head  in  his  own  right,  though 
with  a  tacit  understanding  that  he  should  leave  it  to 
his  next  successor,  sometimes  it  was  held  in  trust  for 
the  benefit  of  the  connexion,  like  modern  chapels  on 
the  congregational  system.  The  principal  members, 
too,  were  something  like  the  deacons,  and  could  at 
times  appoint,  if  not  dismiss  their  spiritual  head. 


38      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
They  So  jealous  were  they  of  their  independence  as  to 

resented 

any  inter-     resent  the  least  show  of  interference  from  the  State, 

ference 

from  the       somewhat  as  priests  resent  at  times  in  matters  of  the 

State. 

D.L.v.2.5.  faith  any  appeal  to  secular  tribunals.     On  one  occa- 
sion, as  we  read,  a  crisis  in  politics  was  followed  by  a 
liberal  reaction,  which  found  little  favour  with  the 
thinkers  nursed  in  theories  like  those  of  Plato  ;  a 
law   was  passed    in   haste,   at   the   motion   of  one 
Sophocles,  which  made  it  penal  for  any  one  to  open 
school,  or  give  any  sort  of  public  lectures,  without 
the  sanction  of  the  State.     The  students  soon  were 
in  high  dudgeon  when  they  heard  that  the  liberty 
of  instruction  was  thus  narrowed,  and  they  resolved 
to  migrate  in  a  body  from  a  city  so  intolerant  of 
intellectual   freedom.      Theophrastus,   then    in  the 
zenith  of  his  fame,  and  counting  his  pupils  by  the 
thousand,    sympathised    with    the   movement,   and 
seceded    with    his    scholars,   till  Athens    realising 
speedily  how    much    her    attraction    and    renown 
depended  on  her  academic  throngs,  repealed  the  un- 
lucky law  in  haste,  and  sued  them  humbly  to  return. 
Some  of  the  philosophers  were  men  of  substance, 
and  could  easily  maintain  themselves  in   studious 
ease,  while  others  found  their  little  means  eked  out 
by  the  help  of  the  small  endowments  lately  mentioned. 
But  besides  this  nearly  all  accepted  presents  at  the 
hands  of  those  who  came  to  hear  them. 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          39 
Socrates,  indeed,   had   spoken   strongly  against 

paid  bv 

what  seemed  to  him  a  sordid  and  a  mercenary  prac- 


tice,  for  wisdom  was  too  infinitely  precious  to  be 
appraised  at  any  money  value.     His  own  immediate 
followers  and  friends  shared  probably  his  sentiment, 
and  taught  in  the  true  missionary  spirit.     But  before 
long  the   prejudice  grew  weaker;   and  Speusippus, 
Plato's  immediate  successor,  was  taunted  with  dis-  D  L  iv  t 
loyalty  to  his  own  master's  principles,  in '  exacting  tri-  6< 
bute  from  all  whether  they  would  or  no.'    Xenocrates, 
indeed,  adhered  more  faithfully  to  old  traditions,  and 
decb'ned  nearly  all  the  presents  sent  to  him,  even  by 
crowned  heads,  though  he  was  so  poor  that  he  was  5.' 
sold   on    one  occasion  when  he  cou  d  not  pay  the 

taxes,  and  owed  his  freedom  to  the  liberal  friend  of  D.  L.  iv.  2 

10. 
learning,  Demetrius  Phalereus.     But  it  soon  became 

a  recognised  thing  that,  even  in  the  fie  d  of  science 
the  labourer  was  worthy  of  his  hire,  though  so  late  as 
the  days  of  Lucian  it  was  thought  unworthy  of  a 
grave  professor  to  make  much    ado  .about  his  fees,  Lucian, 
or  appeal  to  the  law  courts  to  enforce  the  payment,  timus. 
Yet  there  was  one  sect,  the  Cynic  or  the  Stoic,  The  Cynic 

or  Stoic 

which  for  many  generations  discouraged  all  endow-  sect  dis- 

couraged 

ments,  and  would  accept  litt  e  or  nothing:  from  the  endow- 
ments and 
living.     At  first  its  members  aimed  at  nothing  more  *<**• 

than  the  means  of  bare  subsistence,  and  like  Crates 
when  smitten  with  the  love  of  wisdom,  sold  what 


40      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

they  had  in  the  spirit  of  the  sainted  Francis,  and 
D.  L.  vi.  5.  gave  the  money  all  away,  as  only  a  hindrance  in 
the  perfect  way  of  life.     The  scholars  who  gathered 
round  them  were  often  of  the  poorest,  like  Cleanthes, 
who  turned  the  miller's  wheel  hy  night  to  earn  a 
J>  L.  vii.      scanty  pittance,  that  he  might  have  leisure  to  attend 
the  public  courses  in  the  day.     They  often  did  their 
best  to  drive  away  from  them  the  wealthy  or  fastidi- 
ous, by  putting  them  to  irksome  tasks,  like  Zenon, 
who  was  bidden  to  carry  a  pot  of  porridge  through 
D.  L.  viL  l.  the  streets,  and  when  he  felt  ashamed  and  hid  it  in 
his  cloak,  had  a  blow  from  his  master's  stick  which 
broke  the  pot  and  spilt  the  mess  over  his  clothes. 
Th«-Urge  Yet  in  spite  of  all  discouragements  the  students 

students  of  of  philosophy  increased,  and  rich  and  poor  crowded 
alike  to  the  lecture  halls  of  the  Professors.  Theo- 
phrastus,  for  example,  had  as  many  as  2,000  pupils. 
"For  the  passion  of  speculative  thought  was  fresh 
and  vigorous  in  Greece,  though  the  currents  of  free 
life  were  flowing  feebly ;  as  the  confidence  was 
-shaken  in  the  old  standards  of  authority  and  State 
enactments,  men  turned  with  eagerness  to  systems 
which  promised  to  make  them  a  law  unto  themselves  ; 
the  earnest- minded  .crowded  round  the  sages  as  in 
the  Middle  Ages  men  were  drawn  to  the  cloister  or 
to  the  lectures  of  the  Schoolmen,  to  get  more  light 
on  the  eternal  problems  of  roan's  destiny,  or  to  find 
an  intellectual  excitement  in  a  subtle  dialectic. 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          4 1 
We  may  take  as  .typical  the  story  whi-ch  we  read   Stories  of 

sudden  con- 

of  Zcnon,  visiting  Athens  for  purposes  of  trade,  and   version, 
lighting  at  a  bookseller's  shop  on  the  Socratic  Me- 
moirs, which  he  pored  over  with  increasing  interest 
till  he  asked  at  length  <  Where  are  such  men  to  be   D.  L.  vii.  i. 

o 

found  ? '  and  at  once  attached  himself  to  Crates,  who 
was  pointed  out  to  him  close  by.  The  call  to  Phi- 
losophy in  his  case,  as  in  that  of  many  another,  reads 
like  the  stories  of  conversion  to  religion,  or  like  the 
sudden  resolution  to  renounce  the  world  as  Monk  or 
Nun. 

Athens,  though  she  maintained  no  Chairs  as  yet,   Honorary 
was  proud  of  the  distinguished  teachers  who  made  of  thf  phi™ 
a  home  within  her  walls.     She  felt  a  pride  in  her   Athens.  y 
Hellenic  name,  which  was   becoming  through   the 
world   synonymous  with    mental    cultivation.     She 
welcomed  gracefully  the  strangers  who  came  to  sit 
at  the  feet  of  famous  sages ;  she  insisted  on  the  at- 
tendance   at   their   lectures    of   the   Ephebi   whose 
studies  she  controlled  by  law ;    and   when  a  great 
man   died  among  them,  alien  though  he  was   like 
Zerion,  she   honoured  him  with    a    solemn  vote  of 
thanks,  and  decreed  him  a  public  funeral  as  a  '  good 
man  who  had  done  his  best  to  form  the  character  of 
his  young  hearers,  and  lead  them  on  to  manliness 
and  self-restraint  by  showing  his  own  practice  to  be   p.  L. 
always  in  harmony  with  his  professions.' 


42      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


Little  en-  g0  for  age8  Jifctle  or  no  endowment  of  research 

ctovrinent 

needed  was  neec^e<^j  while  the  passion  for  knowledge  was 
intense;  and  multitudes  who  had  little  taste  for 
earnest  thought  still  flocked  as  a  thing  of  course  to 
Athens  to  get  a  sort  of  educational  finish,  or  to  gain 
a  familiarity  at  second-hand  with  the  great  specula- 
tive questions  of  the  day.  To  some  study  was  its 
own  reward,  and  they  could  live  contentedly  on 
little.  Others  who  set  up  for  Professors,  and  were 
ready  to  instruct  all  comers,  could  reap  rich  har- 
vests, if  they  cared,  from  the  payments  of  their 
willing  pupils. 

Rival  seats          But  it  was  only  in  philosophy  that  the  schools  of 

trf  learning 

for  other       Athens  reigned  supreme.     Other  intellectual  rivals 

branches 

of  study.  were  growing  into  note  meantime,  and  were  able  to 
assert  their  separate  claims. 

Alexandria  had  her  royal  founder,  to  build  and 
endow  a  great  museum  with  cloisters,  dining-hall, 
and  library,  and  salaried  professors  who  were  perhaps 
not  always  bound  to  lecture,  but  might  give  them- 
selves to  study  unhampered  by  restrictions,  and  swell 
the  gathered  store  of  knowledge,  and  stimulate  mainly 
by  example.  Here  were  able  critics,  great  in  canons 
of  prosody  and  rules  of  taste  ;  poets  whose  facile  muse 
was  at  times  somewhat  overweighted  by  its  learning  ; 
geometers  who  carried  to  the  furthest  the  Greek 
subtlety  of  deductive  thought;  geographers  who 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          43 

arrayed  in  scientific  form  the  tales  of  travellers  and 
explorers.  Rhodes,  although  no  more  the  mistress 
of  the  sea,  had  her  famous  schools  of  rhetoric,  in 
which  Cicero  stayed  awhile  for  study.  Scarcely  less 
skilful  in  the  play  of  dialectic  were  the  teachers  who 
abounded  in  the  great  towns  of  Asia  Minor.  Tarsus  Strabo,  iv. 

10.  13. 

is  singled  out  by  Strabo  as  a  seat  of  learning,  whose 
citizens    had    the    most   unselfish   love   of    letters. 
Marseilles,  again,  was  fast  becoming  the  favourite 
resort  of  studious  Romans. 
j*    .Here  were  formidable  rivals  to  compete  with  the  The  in- 

doctors  of  the  Porch  and  the  Academy.     For  a  time,  old  associa- 
tions in 
probably,  the  influence  of  Athens  rested  mainly  on  favour  of 

Athens. 

the  associations  of  the  past,  or  the  artistic  beauties  of 

a   city   peopled   with   so   many   memories   dear  to 

thoughtful  minds.     It  is  thus  that  Cicero,  in   his 

later  years,  speaks  of  the  recollections  of  his  visits  to 

those  scenes  :  '  After  hearing  Antiochus  in  the  Pto-  De  Finibus. 

lemaeum,  in  the  company  of  Piso  and  my  brother  and 

Pomponius  and  my  cousin  Lucius,  for  whom  I  had  a 

brother's  love,  we  agreed  to  take  our  evening  walk 

in  the  Academy,  chiefly  because  that  spot  would  be 

the  least  crowded  at  that  time.     So  we  all  met  at 

Piso's  house,  as  was  agreed,  and,  chatting  as  we  went, 

walked  the  six  stadia,  between  the  Gate  Dipylum 

and  the  Academy.     When  we  reached  the  scenes  so 

justly  famous,  we  found   the   quietude  we  craved. 


44      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

"  Is  it  a  natural  sentiment,"  asked  Piso,  "  or  a  mere 
illusion,  which  makes  us  more  affected  when  we  see 
the  spots  frequented  by  men  worth  remembering-, 
than  when  we  merely  hear  their  deeds  or  read  their 
works?  It  is  thus  that  I  feel  touched  at  present, 
for  I  think  of  Plato,  who,  as  we  are  told,  was  wont 
to  lecture  here.  Not  only  do  those  gardens  of  his, 
close  by,  remind  me  of  him,  but  I  seem  to  fancy 
him  before  my  eyes.  Here  stood  Speusippus,  here 
Xenocrates,  here  his  hearer  Polemon.  ..."  "  Yes," 
said  Quintus,  i;  what  you  say,  Piso.  is  quite  true,  for 
as  I  was  coming  hither,  Oolonus,  yonder,  called  my 
thoughts  away,  and  made  me  fancy  that  I  saw  its 
inmate  Sophocles,  for  whom  you  know  my  passionate 
admiration.  ..."  "  And  I  too,"  said  Pomponius, 
"  whom  you  often  attack  for  my  devotion  to  Epi- 
curus, spend  much  time  in  his  garden,  which  we 
passed  lately  in  our  walk." ' 

Yet  her  But,  in  spite  of  old  associations,  the  attractive- 

power  grew  ness  of  Athens  had  declined,  and  the  student  world 
no  longer  crowded  to  her  as  before.  The  ravages  of 
war  had  swept  over  the  land,  the  siege  of  Sulla  had 
laid  waste  the  groves  of  Plato,  and  the  garden  in 
which  Epicurus  lived  j  the  civil  strife  left  little  time 
for  peaceful  studies,  and  the  early  empire  showed  no 
favour  to  the  home  of  letters,  where  Brutus  and  even 
Antony  had  loved  to  court  a  brief  respite  from  the 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          45 

din  of  war.  The  sages,  indeed,  had  soon  returned 
with  quiet  times  to  the  old  haunts,  and  Cicero  was 
surprised  to  see  how  little  they  cared  for  the  havoc 
that  was  made  ;  but  philosophy  had  spent,  for  a  time 
at  least,  its  force  of  active  speculation,  and  was 
living  on  its  hoarded  capital ;  as  such .  it  had  less 
charm  for  earnest  minds;  other  centres,  other 
studies  beguiled  away  the  growing  manhood  of  the 
age,  and,  as  Strabo  says,  the  young  noblemen  of 
Rome  forgot  the  way  to  Athens  and  betook  them-  iv.  1.5. 
selves  to  Gaul. 

But  the  old  city  raised  its  head  asrain,  thanks  it  revived, 

thanks  to 

to  the  magnificent  patronage  of  Hadrian,  who  ho-  the  patron- 
noured  it  with  marked  affection,  and  deserved  by  his  Hadrian, 
liberality  some  at  least  of  the  pompous  phrases  in 
which  the  Greeks  spoke  of  him  in  inscriptions,  as 
'  founder,  benefactor,  restorer  of  the  world.'     The 
Antonines  did  even  more  for  it  in  the  interests  of 
learning.     With  them  began  the  system  of  endow-  and  the 

Antonines, 

ments  by  the  State ;  some  of  the  lecturers  became  who  be^an 

the  system 

recognised  Professors,  and  the  University  existed  as  of  state  en- 
dowments, 
by  law  established.     Few  precise  details  are  giveri 

us  in  ancient  authors  of  the  number  and  the  value 
of  the  imperial  appointments.     Dion  Cassius   tells  71, 31. 
us,  in  vague  language,  that  the  philosophic  Emperor 
Marcus   '  gave   salaried    teachers   to   the   world   at 
Athens  in  every  branch  of  letters.'     From  Lucian  it 


46      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

would  seem  that  a  round  sum  of  10,000  drachmae 
was  allotted  to  at  least  one  representative  in  each  of 
the  four  great  schools,  to  say  nothing  of  lecturers 
in  other  subjects,  who  will  be  mentioned  presently. 
Stoic  as  the  Emperor  was  himself,  he  was  so  tolerant 
as  to  wish  all  other  systems  to  have  fair  play  and 
equal  favour.  He  was  competent  enough  to  choose 
the  ablest  men,  but  he  allowed  the  brilliant  Herodes 
Atticus  to  have  the  disposal  of  his  patronage.  After 

description 

of  an  eiec-    his  death,  if  we  may  trust  Lucian's  lively  pictures,  a 

tionbya  J  ^ 

hoard."         board  of  electors  filled  the  vacant  places,  and  the 
Ednnchac. 

Satirist  describes  them  as  grave  and  reverend  seniors, 
before  whom  the  competitors  appeared  in  person  to 
make  good  their  title  to  the  vacant  chair  (fy?o//os),  and 
to  prove  their  fitness  by  actual  display,  like  candidates 
in  these  days  preaching  their  trial  sermons  for  a  vacant 
living.  The  field  was  gradually  narrowed,  till  only 
two  were  left,  like  athletes,  to  dispute  the  victory. 
Each  made  parade  of  all  his  erudition,  his  mastery  of 
the  logic  of  his  school,  to  prove  himself  the  fittest 
representative  of  Aristotle's  doctrines.  But  they 
warmed  to  their  work,  as  they  went  on,  and  leaving  the 
passionless  theories  of  dialectic,  they  betook  them- 
selves to  virulent  invective,  not  shrinking  from  per- 
sonalities the  most  grotesque,  and  the  most  unsavoury 
charges.  The  scene  described  is  too  absurd  to  be 
literally  true,  though  it  may  point  to  some  unseemly 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          47 

passages  in  the  appointments  of  the  board.  Yet  we 
may  fairly  balance  this  unfavourable  picture  by  an- 
other which  the  same  writer  paints  for  us,  in  far  more 
flattering  colours.  He  puts  into  the  mouth  of  one  A  more 

favourable 

Xigrinus  an  elaborate  eulogy  of  Athens :  '  Brought  up  picture  in 
as  are  the  citizens  in  philosophy  and  poverty,  they  author  of 
never  look  with  favour  on  a  neighbour  or  a  stranger  society. 
who  tries  to  bring  in  luxury  among  them.  Far  from 
that,  if  anyone  arrives  among  them  with  such  habits, 
they  try  to  convert  him  by  degrees,  and  school  him 
imperceptibly  till  they  bring  him  to  a  better  mind. 
He  told  me  how  a  wealthy  upstart  came  in  vulgar 
pomp  to  Athens,  expecting  to  be  envied  and  ad- 
mired for  his  crowds  of  servants  and  his  clothes  of 
broidered  gold ;  but  they  only  pitied  the  poor 
wretch,  and  tried  to  correct  him  in  a  kindly  way, 
not  blaming  him  rudely  to  his  face,  as  in  their  free 
city  anyone  may  live  as  he  thinks  best.  But  when  he 
annoyed  them  at  the  gymnasia  or  the  baths,  by 
crowding  them  with  all  his  slaves,  one  of  them 
whispered  to  his  neighbour,  as  if  he  did  not  witsh  the 
man  to  hear,  "  He  is  afraid  of  being  murdered  at  his 
bath,  yet  all  is  perfectly  secure,  and  there  is  no  need 
of  an  armed  force.1'  The  stranger  heard  the  plain 
truth,  and  took  the  hint.  And  so  they  made  him 
put  aside  his  embroidery  and  purple  by  their  sly 
remarks  upon  the  flowery  colours.  "  Why,  here  we 


48      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

have  the  spring  already,"  said  one  ;  "  where  does  this 
peacock  come  from  ?  "  said  another.  "  Surely,  he 
has  put  on  his  mother's  gown, '  a  third  ;  and  so  on 
with  like  pleasantries.  In  this  way  too  they  made 
their  jokes  about  his  many  rings  and  perfumed  locks 
and  extravagance  of  manner,  till  they  brought  him  to 
a  sounder  state,  and  sent  him  home  the  better  for  his 
schooling.  .  .  .  Nigrinus  praised,  besides,  the  freedom 
which  prevailed  in  Athens,  the  absence  of  all  jea- 
lousy, the  tranquil  leisure  which  they  enjoy  so  fully. 
He  showed  me  how  a  course  so  ordered  is  in  agree- 
ment with  philosophy,  and  can  preserve  its  moral 
purity ;  and  that  nothing  can  be  better  suited  to  a 
man  of  virtue,  who  does  not  care  for  riches,  but  is 
resolved  to  live  a  natural  and  honest  life.' 

It  is  true  that  the  picture  may  be  overcoloured 
from  the  wish  to  bring  out  more  into  relief,  by  way 
of  contrast,  the  affectation  and  the  vice  of  Eome. 
But  we  may  turn  to  a  less  questionable  witness,  and 
read  the  pleasant  memoirs  of  his  student  life  at 
as  also  in  Athens,  with  which  Aulus  Gellius  relieves  the  dul- 
ness  of  his  pedantry.  In  them  we  shall  find  por- 
trayed a  simplicity  of  habits,  and  an  unaffected 
interest  in  moral  progress  which  were  rare  seemingly 
elsewhere.  He  tells  us  most  of  Taurus  the  philoso- 
pher, who  was  not  content  with  formal  lectures,  but 
did  his  best  to  form  the  character  of  his  young 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          49 

friends  by  personal  converse,  chatting  with  them  at 
his  bedroom  door  when  they  had  walked  home  with 

GeHius,ii.2. 

him  from  lecture,  travelling  with  them  sometimes 
in  the  country,  taking  long  walks  to  see  them  when  xii.  5. 
he  heard  that  they  were  sick,  and  whiling  away  their 
weariness   by   pleasant  talk,   in   which   the  serious  xviii.  10. 
mingled  with  the  gay.     If  he  asked  his  pupils  to  his 
table  he  did  not  care  to  tempt  the  appetite  with  xvii.  8. 
costly  viands,  but  the  simple  fare  of  pudding  or 
of  salad  was  seasoned  with  true  Attic  salt,  and  his 
guests  were  happier  and  wiser  when  they  left  him. 
He  had  a  way  of  delicately  hinting  that  a  fault  might  xx.  4, 
be  mended  or  bad  habit  dropped,  which  served  its 
end,  while  it  spared  his  hearer's  self-respect.     Yet 
Taurus  was  no  easy  going  teacher,  with  a  standard 
easily  attained.     He  liked  to  tell  his  youthful  friends 
the  story  of  Euclides,  who   braved  death   to  hear  vi.io. 
Socrates,  his  friend  and  guide,  when  it  was  penal  for 
one  of  Megara  to  enter  Athens ;  whereas  nowadays, 
he  said,  philosophers  must  often  wait  till  their  pupils 
have  recovered  from  the  wine  party  of  the  night 
before.     He  reproached  them  also  for  their  want  of  i.  9. 
earnestness  and  depth;  told  them  that  they  wanted 
to  pick  and  choose,  to  gather  here  a  thought  and 
there  a  hint,  somewhat  as  lecturers  in  our  days  at 
times  complain  that  undergraduates  are  too  practi- 
cally minded,  and  read  not  for  the  sake  of  knowledge, 

£ 


50      University  Life  in  Ancient  At  liens 
Thede-        but  a  class.     The  same  writer  also  dwells  upon  the 

scription  of 

Herrxies  pleasant  memories  of  Kephissia,  where  among  leafy 
groves  and  murmuring  cascades  Herodes  Atticus  kept 
open  house,  and  entertained  the  students  with  digni- 
fied and  courteous  refinement*  Munificent  patron 
of  the  arts  and  letters,  and  acknowledged  leader  of 
the  Academic  world,  he  was  at  home  alike  in  the 
flowery  paths  of  rhetoric  and  the  gravest  themes  of 
speculation,  and  was  at  once  Philosopher  and  Sophist. 

i.  He  had  his  passages  of  Epictetus  ready  to  silence 

the  conceited  braggart  who  set  up  for  a  Stoic  oracle 
on  the  strength  of  a  little  captious  dialectic,  and  a 
few  learned  phrases  caught  up  at  second  hand.  He 
had  no  mercy  on  the  Cynic  who  rudely  pushed  in, 

tx.  2.  demanding  alms  of  right,  and  grumbling   because 

he  was  not  recognised  as  a  compeer.  4  A  beard 
and  staff  indeed  I  see,'  was  the  retort, « but  no  phil- 
osopher.* 

But  he  was  too  much  of  the  '  grand  seigneur ' 
to  be  accepted  as  the  type  of  the  Greek  sage,  con- 
tented with  a  modest  lot.  Much  indeed  of  his 
colossal  fortune  was  expended  on  stately  works  to 
beautify  the  towns  of  Greece.  But  there  does 
seem  too  much  of  personal  display  in  his  royal  road 
to  spelling,  planned  for  the  sake  of  his  own  back- 
ward child.  He  had,  so  runs  the  story,  a  number  of 
his  humble  friends,  each  representing  a  different 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  to  move  about  and  form  them- 


The  Professors  of  Philosophy.          5 1 

selves  into  varying  groups,  to  show  the  little  dullard 
how  to  spell,  somewhat  as  our  journals  tell  us  that  a 
Viceroy  of  India  may  play  at  chess.     He  was  a  little 
too  intent  to  reign  supreme  over  the  schools  of  Athens 
among  the  Professors  of  his  own  electing,  as  a  sort 
of  Chancellor  by  Imperial  favour.     Woe  to  the  un- 
lucky rhetorician  who  had  not  paid  his  court  with  due 
respect,  or  who  presumed  to  air  his  brilliant  periods 
without  permission.   A  hint  was  quite  enough  to  the 
young  students  in  the  theatre,  and  they  clamoured 
the  poor  lecturer  down,  just  as  impatient   lads  at 
times  drown  the  voice  of  the  Public  Orator  at  Oxford. 
At  last  men  learnt  to  take  his  measure,  and  to  get 
over  him  with  guile.     The  famous  Aristides,  who  was 
asked  to  pronounce  the  Panathenaic  speech,  read  him 
the  preamble  in  a  draft  which  was  so  spiritless  and 
tame  as  to  disarm  all  jealous  fears,  but  when  the  day 
came  for  the  state  display  the  real  speech  proved  to 
be  the  author's  masterpiece. 

But  indeed  it  must  be  owned  that  with  all  the 
endowment  of  research  we  hear  too  little  of  quiet  But  there 
study  or  of  keenness  of  original  speculation.     The  signs' of 

.  originality 

great  names  and   moving  powers  are   found   else-  or  deep 

study  at 

where.     Epictetus   and  Marcus  Aurelius  at  Rome ;  Athens. 
Plutarch  at  Chseroneia,  and  Dion  the  Golden  Mouthed 
in  many  a  distant  city,  these  probed  deepest  into 
the  mysteries  of  life,  or  guided  best  the  wavering 

E  2 


52      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

conscience.  Philosophy  meantime  had  left  the 
cloisters  and  the  garden,  and  gone  out  in  Stoic 
guise  among  the  busy  haunts  of  men.  Sometimes 
she  spoke  with  true  missionary  fervour,  pleading  with 
rude  energy  to  every  class  without  distinction,  but 
talking  mainly  in  the  people's  tongue.  Sometimes, 
if  we  trust  the  Satirist  Lucian,  she  condescended  to 
questionable  shifts,  in  the  person  of  the  spiritual 
confessors  in  great  houses,  submitting  to  the  imper- 
tinence of  vulgar  upstarts,  or  attending  the  titled  lady 
Lucian_  at  her  toilette,  and  whispering  ghostly  admonitions 

ircpi  f!av 

in  her  ear,  as  the  maid  brought  in  the  billet-doux, 
or  lavishing  their  care  on  the  poodle  of  their  mis- 
tress, when  the  little  poodles  were  expected  to  appear. 
Sometimes  her  tenets  might  be  heard  from  the 
mouth  of  Cynic  vagrants,  who  moved  about  the 
world  with  staff  and  wallet,  like  the  begging  friars 
of  a  later  age,  but  dragging  often  high  professions 
through  the  mud.  The  four  great  sects  were  repre- 
sented still  at  Athens,  as  we  have  seen,  with  their 
salaried  Professors  in  their  Chairs ;  but  the  ancient 
doctrines  were  rather  themes  for  rhetorical  expan- 
sion, than  problems  for  serious  thought,  or  rules  of 
manly  life.  Henceforth  the  name  of  Sophist  is  the 
literary  term  for  nearly  all  the  public  teachers,  and 
there  is  little  seeming  difference  of  method  or  of 
aims  between  Philosophers  and  Rhetoricians,  with 
the  latter  of  whom  we  now  proceed  to  deal. 


53 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PROFESSORS   OP   RHETORIC. 

IN  the  pages  of  Philostratus  and  of  Eunapius.  we  The 

Sophists  or 

see  the  Sophists  pass  in  a  long  line  before  us,  the  professors 

of  rhetoric. 

same  at  Athens  as  at  Antioch,  or  Smyrna,  or  many 
another  seat  of  learning  and  of  fashion,  and  for 
several  centuries  their  characteristic  features  scarcely 
change. 

It  was  the  old  name  that  was  revived,  but  with 
none  of  that  undercurrent  of  contempt  which  the 
writings  of  the  Socratic  school  had  introduced  into 
Greek  thought.  The  older  Sophists  had  their  systems 
to  explain  the  problems  of  the  world  around  them  ; 
they  mostly  had  their  principles  of  metaphysics, 
however  shallow  they  might  seem  to  deeper  reasoners 
like  Plato.  The  new  were  mainly  literary  artists, 
playing  on  the  chords  of  human  feeling,  laying  under 
contribution  poetry,  and  art,  and  ethics  in  their  im- 
partial interest  in  telling  images  and  useful  tropes. 

Never  was  rhetoric  so  much  in  vogue ;  never  were 
such  enthusiastic  crowds  assembled  round  men  to 


5  4      University  L  ife  in  A  ncien t  A  thens. 


The  public 
professors, 


the  private 
lecturers, 


generally 
aliens. 

Philostra- 
tus,  ii.  62. 


Often  men 
of  vrealih 
and  rank. 


whom  the  manner  was  of  vital  moment,  while  they 
cared  infinitely  little  for  the  matter  of  the  thought 
There  were  hundreds  ready  to  compete  for  the  Chairs 
at  Athens,  whenever  they  were  vacant,  and  if  it  were 
of  interest,  we  might  make  out  the  list  of  those  who 
filled  them  in  succession.  Two  of  this  kind  were 
specially  endowed :  one  from  imperial  funds,  the 
other  by  the  city,  and  worth  respectively  ten  thousand 
drachmae  and  a  talent.  But  besides  these,  as  in  other 
seats  of  fashion,  there  were  many  private  teachers, 
who  gathered  an  audience  round  them  as  they  could, 
and  at  times  even  eclipsed  the  salaried  Professors. 

At  Athens,  so  few  out  of  the  Academic  world 
were  native  born,  that  there  seemed  good  reason  for 
the  fears  of  purists  like  Herodes,  who  complained 
that  such  a  multitude  of  strangers  had  corrupted  the 
purity  of  the  Attic  tongue,  and  only  here  and  there, 
from  a  hermit  in  the  country,  could  the  old  dialect 
be  heard  in  all  its  beauty. 

With  many  it  was  far  from  being  a  question  of 
a  mere  livelihood  to  gain.  To  say  nothing  of  the 
princely  manners  of  Herodes,  the  wealthiest  of  living 
men,  many  were  of  noble  birth,  and  filled  high  office 
in  their  several  states,  or  were  entrusted  with  weighty 
diplomatic  duties. 

Aliens  even  rose  to  posts  of  honour,  like  Lollianus, 
the  first  occupant  of  the  Athenian  Chair,  who  was 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  55 

made  Strategus  or  Mayor  by  the  admiring  city,  and 

had  the  charge  not  of  the  arsenals  as  in  old  days  of 

freedom,  but  of  the  markets  and   the   corn  trade. 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  he  was  less  at  home  in 

these  new  duties  than  in  his  lecture  hall,  for  once  we 

read,  when  there  was  a  riot  round  the  baker's  shop, 

the  populace  began  to  pelt  him,  and  were  going  on  to  Phil.  iL  39. 

worse,  when  a  bystander  brought  them  to  their  senses 

by  exclaiming,  '  Nay,  Lollianus  only  deals  in  words, 

not  loaves.' 

To  some  it  seemed  the  highest  object  of  am- 
bition to  rise  to  distinction  as  a  Sophist,  and  feel 
that  a  great  audience  was  hanging  on  their  words. 
They  could  not  stay  long  in  their  native  homes,  if 
they  felt  that  they  were  capable  of  greater  things, 
but  must  go  forth  into  the  larger  world  to  air  their 
talents  and  measure  themselves  with  rivals  of  re- 
nown. Clazomenae  had  hoped,  indeed,  that  Scope-  Phil.  ii.  a  . 
lianus  would  remain  at  home,  and  lend  a  lustre  to  their 
little  town,  but  he  said  in  somewhat  mocking  jest, 
'  The  caged  bird  will  not  sing,'  and  betook  himself 
to  fashionable  Smyrna,  whither  the  youth  of  all  the 
neighbouring  countries  flocked  to  hear  him. 

Often  they  wandered  off  from  land  to  land,  to 
engage  in  literary  tournaments  with  the  champions 
whom  they  met,  offering  to  lecture  on  some  startling 
thesis,  or  to  improvise  on  any  that  was  given. 


56      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


U.  us. 


WuSrate° 


SophLts. 


The  following  story  in  Philostratus  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  habit.     Hippodromus,  afterwards  ap- 
pointed  to  a  professorship  at  Athens,  came  for  the 
first  time  to  Smyrna,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  landed, 
walked  straight  to  the  market-place,  to  get  a  local 
guide.     He  saw  a  temple  on  his  way,  by  which  some 
private  tutors  sat,  with  servants  carrying  bundles  of 
books  under  their  arms,  and  guessed  that  there  was 
somebody  of  note  lecturing  within.     He  walked  in- 
side and  found  Megistias,  whom  he  bowed  to  without 
saying   more.      Megistias,   thinking  that   it  was  a 
father  or  a  guardian  come  to  talk  to  him  about  a 
pupil,  asked  him  what  his  errand  was,  but  he  only 
said,   '  I   will   tell  you  when  we  are  by  ourselves.' 
When  be  had  catechised  the  lads,  the  teacher  said, 
*  now   tell  me  what  you  want.'     6  Let  us  exchange 
clothes,'  was  the  answer  of  Hippodromus,  who  had  on 
a  travelling  suit,  while  the  other  wore  a  lecturer's 
gown.     *  \Vhydo  you  ask  that?'     'Because  I  wish 
to   give  you   a   specimen   of  my  skill.'     Megistias 
thought  the  stranger  must  be  mad  for  talking   in 
that  style,  but  seeing  that  his  face  was  quite  com- 
posed he  handed  him  his  gown,  and  gave  him  a  thesis 
as  he  asked.     The  other  sat  down  on  the  chair,  and 
thought  a  moment,  then  started  up  so  suddenly  as  to 
make  Megistias  feel   sure  again   that  he  was  mad. 
But  soon  after  he  began  his  speech,  the  listener,  full 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  5  7 

of  admiration,  hurried  up,  and  begged  to  know  who 
he  could  be.  '  I  am  Hippodromus,  the  Thessalian,'  he 
answered,  '  and  I  have  come  here  for  experience,  to 
see  by  the  example  of  one  man  of  learning  in  what 
style  men  lecture  in  Ionia,  but  let  me  finish  my  own 
speech.'  Hardly  had  he  done  so,  when  all  the  edu- 
cated men  in  Smyrna  came  hurrying  to  where  Megis- 
tias  was,  for  the  rumour  had  already  spread,  that 
Hippodromus  had  come  to  visit  them.  So  he  took  up 
the  same  subject,  and  handled  it  again  in  a  new  style, 
and  afterwards  came  out  in  public,  and  filled  them 
all  with  admiration. 

So  too  we  read  of  Marcus  of  Byzantium  coming  Phil.  ii.  41. 
unawares  into  the  room  where  Polemon  was  busy  with  Of  Marcus 
his  pupils.  The  stranger  had  a  rustic  look,  for  his 
beard  and  head  were  all  unkempt  and  shaggy.  But 
some  one  of  the  students  who  had  visited  Byzantium, 
remembering  his  face,  whispered  his  name  to  his  next 
neighbour,  and  so  on  till  they  knew  all  round.  So 
when  the  lecturer  called  as  usual  for  a  theme,  they 
all  looked  to  where  Marcus  sat,  expecting  him  to 
name  one.  '  Why  are  you  staring  at  the  bumpkin,' 
said  their  tutor, 4  how  can  he  start  a  subject  ? '  Where- 
upon Marcus  raised  his  voice  and  said,  '  I  will  name 
a  theme,  and  improvise  upon  it  also.'  His  broad 
Doric  at  once  betrayed  him  to  his  hearer,  and  they 
soon  began  to  show  off  before  each  other,  and  parted 
at  last  with  mutual  admiration. 


58      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
Popular  The  people  commonly  was  nothing  loath  to  hear  ; 

enthusiasm 

they  streamed  as  to  a  popular  preacher  in  our  own 
day,  or  an  actor  starring  in  provincial  towns :  the 
epicures  accepted  the  invitation  to  the  feast  of  words, 
and  hurried  to  the  theatre  to  judge  as  critics  the 
choice  of  images,  and  refinement  of  the  style,  and  all 
the  harmony  of  balanced  periods. 

Few  could  resist  the   intoxication  of  applause. 

Phil.  ii.  88.  Aristides  even,  when  the  Emperor  asked  to- hear  him 
lecture,  made  it  a  condition  that  his  friends  might 
come  to  listen,  and  clap  and  shout  as  loud  as  they 

Their          should  please.  Of  course  their  heads  were  often  turned 

vanity 

with  such  applause :  of  course  they  gave  themselves 
high  airs,  and  many  a  story  illustrates  the  boastful 

Phil.  ii.  4€.  arrogance  of  the  great  sophists.  Polemon  began  a 
speech  at  Athens  with  the  words,  'You  have  the 
credit,  Athenians,  for  being  skilful  judges  of  good  style. 
I  shall  now  see  if  you  deserve  it.'  He  carried  in- 
deed so  far  his  self-assertion  as  to  turn  a  future 
Emperor  out  of  doors,  when  he  came  home  unex- 
pectedly, and  found  him  quartered  in  his  house 
by  order  of  the  council.  Adrian,  of  Tyre,  was  not 

Phil.  ii.  91.  much  humbler,  for  he  began  his  inaugural  address, 
on  his  appointment  to  a  Chair  at  Athens,  with  the 
prelude,  '  Once  more  come  letters  from  Phoenicia.' 

and  osten-  Like  some  others  of  the  class,  he  also  showed  his 
pride  and  ostentation  in  his  outer  man.  He  wore 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  59 

the  costliest  clothes  and  rarest  stones,  and  rode  on 
state  occasions  in  a  carriage,  the  horses  of  which  had 
silver  bits.  The  ceremony  over,  he  was  escorted 
home  by  students  from  all  parts  of  Greece,  who 
treated  him  with  all  the  reverence  due  to  a  High 
Priest  at  the  Mysteries.  For  he  spared  no  cost  to 
win  their  love,  providing  amusements  of  all  kinds, 
hunting  and  wine  parties,  and  excursions  to  the 
races,  till  they  felt  towards  him  as  to  some  indulgent 
father.  CI  have  seen  the  tears  standing  in  their 
eyes,'  says  his  biographer,  'as  they  recalled  his 
memory,  and  fondly  imitated  his  voice  or  gait,  or 
graceful  carriage.' 

Others,  like  Adrian,  pushed  too  far  the  love  of  PfcH.  "•  77. 
finery  and  display.  Alexander  of  Seleucia  came  to 
Eome  on  a  deputation  to  the  Emperor,  and  when 
admitted  to  an  interview,  somewhat  importunately 
urged  the  prince  to  notice  him.  *  I  do  take  notice  of 
you,'  was  the  reply  of  Antoninus,  *  and  I  see  what 
you  are  like,  a  coxcomb  only  thinking  of  combing 
your  hair,  cleaning  your  teeth,  paring  your  nails,  and 
scenting  yourself  with  perfume.'  We  find  indeed  a 
trace  of  the  old  contrast  between  Philosopher  and 
Sophist,  although  in  altered  form,  when  we  read  in 
the  story  of  Alexicles,  that  he  abandoned  late  in  life  ii.  74. 
the  sage's  grave  and  austere  manners,  and  took  to  the 
theatre  and  concerts  as  soon  as  he  became  a  Sophist. 


60      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
Their  pro-  They  made  money  rapidly  enough  so  soon  as  they 

fcssional 

gains.  rose  to  eminence,  and  no  profession  of  the  day 
brought  in  such  incomes.  Isocrates,  some  centuries 
before,  though  fresh  from  the  lessons  of  his  master 
Socrates,  who  spoke  of  payment  as  a  sort  of  simony, 
had  opened  a  school  of  rhetoric  at  Chios,  afterwards 
at  Athens,  and  took  from  1,000  drachmae  to  a  talent 

Phil.  ii.  34.  for  a  course  of  lectures.  Scopelianus  in  later  days 
was  still  more  highly  paid,  for  he  received  from  the 
young  Herodes  Atticus  a  gift  of  15  talents,  and  the 
grateful  father,  we  are  told,  gave  him  as  much,  and 
showed  his  admiration  for  him  by  destroying  all  the 
statues  of  the  rival  Sophists  which  had  graced  his 
numerous  corridors. 

This  was  exceptional  of  course,  as  was  the  fortune 

PhiLiiio?,  of  this  princely  house.  But  Damianus  the  Ephesian, 
who  spent  so  much  on  gifts  to  his  fellow-citizens  and 
repairs  to  the  great  temple,  paid  10.000  drachmae  at 
one  time  to  both  of  the  great  teachers  whom  he 
heard.  Commonly  they  were  content  with  lower 
fees,  which  however  mounted  up  to  a  good  figure 

Phil.  ii.  95.  when  the  auditors  were  many.  Chrestus  of  Byzan- 
tium, whom  the  Athenians  tried  to  get  elected  for 
one  of  their  own  Chairs,  had  100  paying  pupils  at 
one  time.  Some  who  had  good  means  of  their  own 
were  very  moderate  in  their  demands.  Proclus  of 

PhiLii.106.  Naucratis,  for  example,  took  100  drachmae  once  for 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric,  6 1 

all  from  each,  and  let  him  listen  to  as  many  courses 
as  he  would ;  out  of  thac  sum  he  provided  even  a 
library  for  the  special  use  of  his  own  pupils,  that 
they  might  look  up  all  the  references  at  once,  and 
so  expand  his  oral  teaching.  He  carried  so  far 
his  independence,  we  are  told,  as  to  insist  on 
strictest  discipline.  Strange  to  say,  he  would  not 
let  his  pupils  hiss  or  laugh,  but  made  them  sit  quite 
quietly;  the  servants  and  pedagogues  together  on 
one  side,  and  the  young  students  marked  off  by 
themselves. 

There  was  an  important  privilege  attaching  to  The  im- 
munities 
the  educational  profession,  which  dates  also   from  from  civil 

burdens 

the  Antonines.     The  teachers  for  the  most  were  free  enjoyed  by 

the  profes- 

from  all  taxation ;  at  least  in  the  smaller  towns  of  sors. 
Asia,  and  probably  elsewhere,  three  Sophists  and 
three  Grammarians  enjoyed  immunity,  while  in  the 
larger  there  might  be  five  of  each.  The  Philoso- 
phers were  to  be  all  free,  but  it  was  owned  that  there 
were  few  to  claim  the  privilege. 

This  was  a  far  greater  boon  in  those  days  than  it 
would  seem  at  present.  Civic  burdens,  cheerfully 
borne  in  earlier  ages  by  the  men  of  substance,  while 
the  currents  of  free  life  flowed  strongly,  were  felt  to 
be  more  grievous  as  public  spirit  grew  more  feeble, 
and  the  number  of  the  town  councillors  diminished. 
Aristides  tells  us  without  shame  in  his  confessions, 


62      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

how  the  local  honours  of  all  kinds  pursued  him,  each 
with  some  heavy  burden  on  his  funds ;  how  he  wept 
and  prayed  and  fasted,  till  at  length  by  special 
favour  of  his  guardian  powers,  he  saw  a  vision  of 
white  maids  who  came  to  free  him,  and  woke  to  find 
a  letter  from  the  Emperor,  which  conferred  the 
much  longed-for  dispensation. 
Examples  But  Imperial  caprice  sometimes  withheld  what 

of  imperial 

caprice  in     Imperial  favour  had  bestowed.     Academic  quarrels 

the  treat- 
ment of  the  now  and  then  were  heard  of  by  the  court  at  Rome, 

Sophists. 

and  the  professors  were  sent  for  in  post  haste  to 
advocate  their  rival  claim.  '  No  wonder  if  they 
sometimes  lost  heads  and  floundered  in  their  speech,' 

Phil. ii.  114.  says  the  compassionate  biographer  of  Heraclides  ;  <a 
vulgar  advocate  might  keep  his  courage  up,  but  a 
professor  used  to  lecture  students  may  be  easily  un- 
nerved at  the  sight  of  the  armed  body-guard,  and  a 
prince's  grave  look  and  haughty  words  with  no 
encouraging  applause.' 

The  poor  Professor  lost  part  of  his  salary,  if  not 
his  Chair  at  Athens,  though  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  unmercifully  badgered  like  Philiscus.  The 

Phil  ii.  121.  latter,  it  would  seem,  had  gained  a  Professorship 
through  influence  at  court,  but  Caracalla,  whose  con- 
sent had  been  surprised,  resented  the  appointment, 
and  took  an  early  opportunity  of  paying  off  the  score. 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  63 

A  lawsuit,  in  which  the  Professor  was  a  party,  was 
brought  up  by  appeal  to  Home,  and  the  Emperor  sat 
in  j udgment.  As  soon  as  Philiscus  came  into  the  hall 
he  gave  offence  by  his  gait  and  carriage,  and  even 
by  the  way  in  which  he  wore  his  clothes.  His  voice 
was  too  falsetto,  his  style  seemed  slovenly,  and  there 
was  a  want  of  definite  meaning  in  his  words.  The 
Emperor  began  to  criticise  him  sharply,  and  cut  him 
short  with  interruptions,  confusing  him  with  a  piti- 
less cross-examination.  The  puzzled  Sophist  ven- 
tured to  remind  his  master  that  he  had  once  done 
him  the  honour  to  set  him  free  from  all  taxation. 
Whereupon  the  Sovereign  roared  out  in  a  passion, 
'I  will  not  have  you  free,  nor  any  paltry  school- 
master like  yourself.  I  will  not  rob  my  cities  of  the 
sources  of  their  incomes  for  such  miserable  stuff  as 
you  can  talk/ 

Caracalla    showed  as    little   favour   in  dealing  The 
with  philosophy.     He  fancied  himself  a  second  Alex-  learning 

suffered 

ander,  and  resented  the  coolness  between  Aristotle  from  the 

whims  of 

and  his  favourite  hero,  and  accused  the  philosopher  Caracalla. 
of  being  privy  to  his  distinguished  pupil's  death. 
To  avenge  him,  he  disgraced  all  the  Peripatetic 
doctors  whom  he  knew,  talked  of  burning  all  their 
books,  suspended  their  fellowships  in  the  Alexandrian 
Museum,  and  in  his  mad  way  discountenanced  all 
learning. 


64      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
Still  more  But  the  interests  of  letters  had  far  more  to  fear 

in  the  third 

century        than  from  the  wanton  freaks  of  Caracalla.     Hard 

from  war 

and  faction,  times  set  in,  and  lasted  nearly  till  the  end  of  the 
third  century.  Anarchy  and  foreign  war  exhausted 
the  resources  of  the  empire.  The  rulers  on  the 
throne  had  often  no  breadth  of  views  or  cultivation, 
and  the  great  sovereigns  who  restored  the  credit  of 
the  Roman  arms  upon  the  Northern  frontiers  were 
too  busy  and  unlettered  to  prize  the  studious  arts  of 
peace.  The  endowments  therefore  of  the  Antonines 
were  dropped  ;  the  Imperial  Chairs  at  Athens  were 
left  vacant,  though  the  city,  to  whom  her  University 
was  dear,  still  managed  to  reserve  some  funds  for 
the  salaries  of  Grammarians  and  Sophists. 

Philosophy          The  older  schools  of  Metaphysics  suffered  most. 

suffered 

most.  Longinus,  the  greatest  schooolman  of  the  age  (the 

'living  library,'  as  Eunapius  calls  him)  speaks  of 
the  many  Philosophers  whom  he  had  known  in 
youthful  days  at  Athens,  although  he  owns  that,  with 
the  exception  of  Plotinus  and  his  set,  they  all  did 
little  more  than  repeat  and  comment  on  the  same 
old  worn-out  doctrines ;  '  but  now,'  he  adds  in  later 

Longin.  ap.  years,  '  it  is  impossible  to  describe  how  entirely  these 

Porphyr.  .     ,  , 

Piotin.  studies  are  neglected. 

Athens  -^   *s   no  w°nder  that  the  University  declined. 

tKoth^  About  this  time  the  tide  of  war  rolled  up  to  Athens, 

however^  an(i  swept  with  furious  force  over  her  land  and  city. 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  65 

The  Grothic  Heruli,  stirred  by  sudden  impulse  from  routed  by 

Dexippus 

the  regions  of  the  Dniester,"  made  their  way  across 
the  Euxine,  and  through  the  Bosporus  and  Helles- 
pont. The  isles  of  Greece,  the  coasts  of  Asia,  were 
pillaged  as  they  passed  along ;  and,  emboldened  by 
success,  they  pushed  on  further,  and  sweeping  across 
Attica  they  stormed  the  city  walls.  The  citizens 
took  refuge  in  the  woods  of  Parnes  and  Pentelicus, 
whence  they  looked  with  panic  fear  at  the  smoke  rising 
from  their  ravaged  homesteads.  But  one  Dexippus, 
trained  as  he  was  in  all  the  learning  of  the  schools, 
turned  his  skill  in  rhetoric  to  good  account  by 
pointing  to  the  Groths  as  they  straggled  past  in  care- 
less triumph,  laden  with  rich  booty,  and  urging  his 
countrymen  to  take  courage  and  attack  them.  Em- 
boldened by  his  fiery  words,  the  fugitives  poured 
down  upon  the  Grothic  rear,  and  swept  them  away  in 
ignominious  flight. 

Brighter  times  at  length  returned  with  the  rule  The  fourth 
of  Constantine  and  his  successors.     Once  more  the  brilliant 
schools  of  Athens  filled  with  students ;  her  Chairs  of  University 

of  Athens* 

Rhetoric  attracted  the  most  brilliant  men  of  letters, 
and  the  fourth  century  was,  at  least  in  outward 
seeming,  the  palmiest  age  of  her  ancient  University. 
The  materials  for  history,  at  any  rate,  are  more  abun-  an(* has 

left  more 

dant  than  before.   The  lives  of  the  most  accomplished  materials 

for  history 

schoolmen  are  written  for  us  in  the  pages  of  Eur.a- 


66      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

plus;  the  popular  Libanius  studied  there  in  early 
years,  and  his  writings  illustrate  at  large  che  charac- 
ter and  methods  of  the  professional  teaching  which 
was  the  same  at  Antioch  as  at  Athens.  Himerius, 
who  held  a  Chair,  has  left  us  specimens  of  his  styl?  ; 
the  great  churchmen.  Basil  and  Gregory  Xazianzen, 
attended  lectures  there  for  years  together  by  the  side 
of  the  Apostate  Julian,  and  their  pictures  of  the 
scenes  of  student  life  are  unusually  clear  and  circum- 
stantial. 

Her  name  still  exercised  the  same  fascination  as 

of  old,  and  the  standard  of  her  culture  was  admitted 

Eunap.        on  all  hands  to  be  the  highest.      '  Nvmphidianus/ 

Nvmph. 

says  his  biographer,  4  had  not  indeed  the  experience 
and  the  discipline  of  Athens,  yet  he  was  still  worthy 
of  the  name  of  Sophist.'  The  kinsmen  of  the  young 
Libanius  were  urgent  to  keep  him  still  at  Antioch ; 
his  mother  wept  at  the  thought  of  his  departure,  and 
friends  offered  him  rich  heiresses  in  marriage ;  but 
Lib.  1 11,  he  would  PO*  and  4  would  have  declined  the  hand 

ed.  Rebke. 

even  of  a  goddess  to  see  the  smoke  of  Athens.'  Dis- 
enchanted as  he  was  with  the  lectures  which  he 
heard,  yet  he  deeply  prized  his  opportunities  for 
study,  and  the  associations  of  the  city;  he  stayed 
there  four  years,  and  hoped  to  remain  as  many  more, 
and  says  long  afterwards  of  a  friend  that  he  was  happy 
in  his  longer  sojourn  in  the  seat  of  learning ;  for  his 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  67 

own  part,  '  he  saw  it  but  as  in  a  dream  and  passed 
away/ 

Christians  even  half  forgave  the  tenacity  with 
which  it  clung  to  the  old  pagan  creed,  and  fathers 
sent  their  sons  to  the  stronghold  of  heathendom, 
though  probably  with  some  misgivings,  such  as  those 
which  pious  parents  feel  in  our  days  when  their 
children  go  amid  what  they  fear  as  the  temptations 
of  free  thought. 

The  Public  Chairs  were  endowed  partly  by  the  The 

endowed 

central  government,  and  partly  from  the  city  funds.  Chairs, 
The  former,  or  what  we  may  call  the  Regius  Profes- 
sorships, were,  as  before,  subject  to  the  State  control  ; 
but  the  Emperors  were  too  busy  with  nice  ques- 
tions of  the  Arian  controversy,  and  the  guidance  of 
Church  councils,  to  have  much  time  or  interest  to 
spare  for  studies  of  philology  and  grammar;  there 
was  no  Minister  of  Education  then  in  office,  so  the 
Provincial  Governor  took,  to  some  extent,  his  place. 

Thus  we  hear  of  a  conspiracy  of  jealous  rivals  to  and  in- 
bribe  the  Proconsul,  and  induce  him  to  strip  Proaere-  tbe  Pro- 
sine  of  his  office  ;  at  another  time,  when  the  peace  Governor. 


of  the  University  had  been  disturbed  by  factious 
spirit,  we  are   told  that  the  Governor  of  Greece  Lib.  i.  19. 
drove  three  Professors  from  their  Chairs,  and  ap- 
pointed others  in  their  stead.     Nor  was  the  State 
content  with  nominating  'and   dismissing  in   such 

F  2 


65      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

Theod.Cod.  cases  only.  Edicts  were  put  forth  requiring  all 
public  teachers  to  be  men  of  unblemished  character ; 
careless  livers,  who  called  themselves  philosophers, 
were  to  be  taken  up  at  once  and  sent  back  to  their 
homes ;  and  no  one  was  to  teach  except  with  the 
sanction  of  the  Town  Council,  as  expressed  in  a 

Liban.  ill.     formal  document,  which  was  to  be  submitted  to  the 

166. 

Emperor. 

Official  The  emoluments  of  office  took,  as  before,  the 

varying       shape  of  salaries,  immunities  and  fees ;  but  in  the 
rent-  first  an  important   difference  was  made,  which   it 

charge, 

is  of  interest  to  note,  rrom  various  causes  the 
standard  of  value  had  been  changing  rapidly,  caus- 
ing great  and  widespread  distress.  Diocletian  had 
tried,  but  vainly,  to  arrest  the  evil  by  issuing  a  long 
list  of  legalised  prices.  Such  fluctuations  would 
bear  hardly  on  fixed  incomes,  as  experience  has 
proved  in  our  days,  and  therefore  professional  stipends 
were  either  partly  paid  in  kind,  or  varied  with  the 
price  of  corn,  on  the  principle  of  tithe  rent-charge. 
The  lecture-  As  lecture-rooms  they  used  sometimes  a  temple, 
or  the  Senate-house  on  great  occasions ;  more  fre- 
quently, for  ordinary  teaching,  they  remained  at 
home :  indeed,  early  in  the  century,  when  there  had 
been  much  rioting  and  license  in  the  streets,  no 

Eunap. 

Julian,  Sophist  dared  to  show  himself  abroad,  but  each  lec- 
tured quietly  in  his  own  house ;  and  if  the  students 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  69 

wished  to  give  a  testimonial  of  more  than  usual 
value,  they  built  a  theatre,  as  it  was  called,  for  their 
Professor, 

It  may  be  noticed  that  we  often  have  to  read  of  jealousies 
the  jealous  bickerings  between  the  rival  schoolmen,  Sophists 
and  in  general  it  must  be  owned  that  there  are  no 
traces  of  any  bond  of  union  between  Professors,  or  of 
much  corporate  feeling  between  the  members  of  the 
University.     We  may  take  the  following  story  as  an  illustrated 
illustration  of  this  and  other  features  of  their  social  pius 
life,  remembering  that  it  comes  from  one  who  knew 
them  well,  and  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  spirit 
of  their  institutions. 

Anatolius,  the  Imperial  viceregent  in  the  Illyrian 
provinces,  was  a  man  of  great  ability  and  cultivated 
tastes,  and  had  long  wished  to  visit  Greece,  to  which 
he  was  attracted  by  so  many  learned  memories, 
though  himself  from  the  legal  University  of  Berytus. 
He  arranged  at  last  to  take  it  in  the  course  of  his  mi- 
nisterial tour,  and  sent  a  message  to  the  various  Sophists 
that  it  was  his  pleasure  that,  when  he  came,  they 
should  dispute  before  him  on  a  certain  thesis,  which 
he  named,  and  that  all  should  do  their  best.  '  All 
Hellas,'  says  the  writer,  in  his  inflated  style,  '  was 
startled  when  it  heard  how  wise  and  learned  and 
incorruptible  a  judge  was  coming.'  The  schoolmen 
began  to  put  themselves  in  training,  and  to  intrigue 


70      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

-  against  each  other;  at  length  they  met  in  solemn 
conclave  to  discuss  the  meaning  of  the  problem — a 
foolish  one  enough,  the  writer  thinks  it — but  failed 
to  come  to  an  agreement,  and  went  home,  each  in 
his  vanity  thinking  himself  right,  and  airing  his 
arguments  before  his  pupils.     At  last  the  dreaded 
visitor  arrived,  while  the  poor  Sophists  were  racking 
their  brains  over  the  problem,  and  furbishing  their 
weapons   of  debate.     No   sooner  had  the  minister 
attended  Divine  service,  and  gone  the  round  of  all 
the  temples,  than  he  had  the  Convocation  of  the 
Masters  summoned,  and   the  disputations  opened. 
They  began  in  hot  haste  to  display  their  cleverness, 
but  failed  entirely  to  satisfy  their  judge.     He  only 
laughed  at  their  vanity  for  caring  to  be  clapped  by 
their  young   pupils,   and    pitied  the  parents  who 
entrusted  their  children  to  such  teachers.     But  at 
length  came  the  turn  of  Proaeresius,  who,  somewhat 
unfairly,  had  a  hint  of  the  way  in  which  the  great 
man  liked  the  problem  treated.     So  he  gave  such  a 
turn  to  the  whole  argument,  and  treated  it  with 
such  consummate  elegance  of  style,  that  Anatolius 
started  from  his  seat  in  joy,  and  the  whole  Convoca- 
tion  burst  into   applause,  exclaiming  that  it  was 
superhuman  skill. 
Another  Another  scene,  from  the  same  writer,  brings  still 

illustration 

more  markedly  before  us  the  intensity  of  faction  in 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  71 

their  midst,  and  the  spirit  of  their  rhetoric.     Prose-  from  Euna- 

plus  of  thfc 

resius  had  been  driven  from  Athens  by  bribery  and  bitter 

feeling  of 

intrigue ;  but  a  new  Governor  came  to  Greece,  with  rivalry 

among  the 

instructions  to  restore  him  to  his  Chair.  The  exile,  Sophists, 
escorted  by  his  friends,  returned;  but  his  enemies 
began  to  plot, '  raising  their  heads  again  like  vipers 
full  of  mischief.'  Meanwhile  the  great  man  made 
his  entry  into  the  town,  and  had  a  Convocation  called, 
in  which  questions  for  debate  were  started,  which  the 
Sophists  treated  as  they  could,  under  cover  of  their 
friends'  applause.  But  on  a  sudden,  as  the  partisans 
of  the  banished  man  came  in  with  him,  the  Governor 
spoke  out :  ( I  intend  to  name  a  thesis,  and  hear  you 
all  dispute  upon  it  then  and  there.  Proaeresius 
shall  come  last,  or  take  his  turn  when  you  will.* 
The  others  hurriedly  excused  themselves,  upon  the 
plea  that  they  were  not  used  to  speak  extempore.  The 
Governor  called  on  Proseresius  to  begin.  After  a  few 
graceful  sentences  by  way  of  prelude,  he  waited  to  have 
a  subject  given  him,  and  meantime  began  to  lose  his 
nerve,  as  he  saw  scowling  faces  all  around  him,  and 
his  friends  so  few.  But,  as  it  happened,  at  the  far 
end  of  the  room  he  espied  two  practised  rhetoricians 
who  had  been  most  active  in  the  cabal  against  him. 
By  sudden  impulse  he  begged  to  have  them  called, 
and  put  upon  their  oath  to  own  that  they  had 
wronged  him.  They  slunk  away,  but  were  recalled 


72      University  Life  in  Ancient  At  tuns. 

by  force,  and  bidden  to  name  a  theme.  They  did 
this  with  the  worst  grace  possible,  and  named  a 
barren  subject,  most  ill-suited  to  rhetorical  expansion. 
Proaeresius  eyed  them  sternly,  then  turning  to  the 
seat  of  judgment,  begged  earnestly  that  short-hand 
writers  might  come  in  to  stand  beside  him.  The 
petition  granted,  he  further  asked  that  no  one 
should  applaud.  This  too  was  ordered,  on  pain  of 
and  of  their  grave  displeasure.  Then  Proieresius  let  the  current  of 

rhetorics! 

skill  his  eloquence  flow  on,  rounding  each  phrase  with  the 

appropriate  rhythm.  The  hearers  hardly  could  keep 
still,  betraying  their  feelings  by  involuntary  sounds. 
At  length  his  style  grew  more  impassioned,  and 
leaving  the  poor  theme  suggested,  as  too  easy  for  his 
genius,  he  passed  on  to  deal  with  an  opponent's 
thesis.  Then,  as  the  crowd  could  scarcely  suppress 
its  admiration,  or  the  short-hand  writers  keep  pace 
with  his  rapid  course,  he  turned  to  them  and  said, 
'  Now  note  if  I  remember  what  was  uttered  ;  see  if  I 
fail  or  falter  for  a  single  word.'  Then  he  repeated 
the  harangue  without  a  change  of  phrase  or 
word.  Thereon  the  Governor  acd  assembly  alike 
forgot  the  rale  of  silence,  and  broke  out  into  accla- 
mations. They  crowded  round  the  speaker,  and 
kissed  his  hands  and  feet,  as  of  a  very  Mercury  of 
eloquence;  even  his  jealous  rivals  could  not  with- 
hold their  praises.  The  magistrate  and  guards  con- 
ducted him  away  in  state. 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  73 

Three  Professors  of  this  age  stand  out  in  marked  The  three 

great 

prominence  beyond  the  rest,  and  nearly  all  the  Sophists  of 
Academic  history  of  Athens  connects  itself  for  many 
years  with  one  or  other  of  their  names.  Julian,  the 
earliest  in  date,  came  from  Cappadocia,  the  country 
which  produced  some  of  the  greatest  Churchmen  of 
the  times.  Proaeresiup,  his  pupil  and  successor  in  his 
Chair,  was  an  Armenian  by  birth,  and  came  with 
many  of  his  countrymen  in  early  life  to  the  famous 
seat  of  learning.  Hellenic  letters  had  not  long 
found  their  way  into  Armenia,  but  DOW  they  were 
welcomed  with  enthusiasm,  and  young  men  of  the 
slenderest  means  set  out  boldly  on  the  journey, 
and  crowded  to  the  schools  of  Athens.  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  who  knew  them  well,  gives  them  a  bad 
character  for  truth  and  frankness,  but  notices  their 
subtlety  in  dialectic.  Himerius,  the  last  great  name 
among  the  Sophists,  was  a  native  of  Bithynia. 

It  will  be  seen  that  all  these  eminent  teachers  rather 

Asiatic 

were  Asiatic  rather  than  Hellenic,  and  the  other  evi-  than 

Hellenic 

dences  of  the  times  point  to  the  same  fact,  that  the  in  race 
old  historic  races  were  little  represented  at  the 
University,  and  that  Greek  culture  was  then  travel- 
ling further  eastward,  nearer  to  the  sources  of  the 
influence,  which  probably  in  distant  ages  first  stirred 
to  vigorous  life  the  civilisation  of  old  Greece.  We 
may  find  in  the  pages  of  Eunapius  materials  for  the 


74      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

personal  history  of  all  the  three,  though  the  details 
are  somewhat  fantastic  and  uncritical,  and  the  style 
is  full  of  tawdry  affectations.  One  of  them,  Hime-  . 
rius,  has '  also  left  us  specimens  of  his  orations,  and 
there  are  many  writings  still  remaining  of  Libanius, 
who,  though  he  filled  a  public  Chair  elsewhere,  had 
passed  his  student  life  at  Athens,  and  represented 
The  the  general  spirit  of  her  schools.  Together  they 

general 

character      provide  us  with  evidence  enough  of  the  methods  and 

of  their 

educational   value  of  their  professional  teaching,  and   of  their 

influence. 

general   mode   of  dealing  with   the   young  minds 
brought  under  their  influence. 
The  per-  We  notice  first  that  the  personal  tie  was  very 

sonal  ties 

between       close  between  the  student  and  the  lecturer,  who  took 

teacher  and 

student        to  some  extent  the  place  of  tutor.     The  University 

were  very 

close,  was  not  an  organized  whole,  which  could  exert  a 

discipline  through  officials  of  its  own ;  but  each  new- 
comer put  himself  at  once  upon  a  lecturer's  list,  and 
looked  to  him  exclusively  for  guidance  in  his  course 
of  study. 

The  teacher  not  only  marked  out  the  student's 
line  of  reading,  and  admitted  him  to  all  MB  courses  of 
instruction,  but  watched  over  his  progress,  applied 
encouragement  or  blame,  visited  him  if  he  was  sick, 
corresponded  in  many  cases  with  his  parents,  till  the 
bond  of  mutual  confidence  was  very  close  and  real. 
Indeed,  the  indignity  was  keenly  felt  in  the  case  of  any 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric,  75 

disruption  of  the  tie,  or  desertion  of  the  tutor  by  the  and  deser- 
tion keenly 
pupil.   Libanius  draws  a  lively  picture  of  the  distress  felt  by  the 

lecturer. 

occasioned  in  such  cases.  The  poor  Professor  finds  a.  423. 
no  relish  in  his  food  or  books,  he  cannot  sleep  of 
nights  for  thinking  of  the  slight ;  his  Chair  in  the 
lecture  hall  reminds  him  of  it,  and  he  looks  with 
suspicious  eyes  upon  the  audience  that  still  remains. 
Even  more  poignant  is  the  wound  if  he  meets  his  old 
pupil  coming  from  another  course,  and  sees  or 
fancies  that  he  is  eyeing  him  with  a  bold  or  sneering 
look,  or  if  the  father  storms,  instead  of  paying  what 
is  due,  and  says  that  his  son  has  made  no  progress, 
and  ought  to  have  left  him  long  ago.  Such  apostasy 
— so  strong  is  the  expression  of  Libanius — was  rare 
in  the  good  old  days  when  men  used  to  shun  the 
ungrateful  student  who  treated  his  teacher  with  so 
little  grace ;  but  it  was  getting  sadly  common,  and 
some  were  even  bold  enough  to  go  the  whole 
round  of  lecturers,  and  see  which  they  liked  best. 
So  the  tutors  could  not  hold  their  own,  or  tighten 
the  reins  of  discipline,  or  punish  the  unruly  scholars ; 
a  word,  a  blow,  was  quite  enough  to  frighten  them 
away  for  ever,  and  swell  the  numbers  of  a  rival's 
class.  Even  the  pedagogues,  or  private  tutors,  con- 
spired often  to  make  matters  worse;  they  took 
offence  if  their  favour  was  not  courted  by  fair  words 
or  fees  or  by  good  cheer,  and  they  carried  their 


The  evils 
of  rivalry 


i  313. 


avoided 
sometimes 
by  special 
unions, 

ii.  31-2. 


76      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

young  charges  off  to  a  more   obsequious  or  liberal 
Sophist. 

So  Libanius  proposes  to  restore  by  mutual  con- 
sent the  good  old  custom.  He  would  introduce  a 
general  pledge,  that  no  teacher  should  accept  the 
runaway  pupil  of  another,  but  that  they  should  drop 
their  bitter  rivalries  in  the  sense  of  common  good. 
He  sees  indeed  the  danger  of  this  system  of  protec- 
tion, this  enforcement  of  the  rules  of  a  trade  union 
of  Professors,  but  he  relies  on  their  enthusiasm  for 
learning,  and  their  desire  of  applause  to  spur  on  the 
least  industrious  or  brilliant  teachers. 

One  of  the  worst  features  of  the  system  seemingly 
was  the  frequent  bickering  and  strife  among  these 
jealous  rivals.  Libanius,  indeed,  takes  credit  to  him- 
self for  patience,  when  he  hears  of  the  bearded  men 
who  go  to  listen  to  another  lecturer ;  but  he  fumes 
as  much  as  anyone  when  a  youth  deserts  his  class, 
and  he  is  full  of  bitterness  against  his  colleagues. 
Sometimes  it  would  seem  that  such  collision  was 
avoided  by  special  unions  or  systems  of  gradation,  in 
which  one  took  higher  rank  than  all  the  rest. 

We  are  hearing  in  our  own  days  of  plans  of  organiz- 
ing study,  by  which  provision  may  be  made  for  each 
department  by  Professors  with  the  help  of  deputies 
or  readers,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  rela- 
tions in  such  cases.  The  picture  given  in  Libaoius 


7^ he  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  77 

is  curious,  but  not  attractive.     In  one  such  group,  in  in  which 

the  position 

which  a  Professor  from  Ascalon  was  '  Coryphaeus  of  of  the  sub- 
professors 
the  Choir,'  6  when  the  Lead  appeared,  the  others  rose  is  not 

attractive 

in  haste,  and  hurried  to  escort  him  to  his  Chair,  and 
waited  for  his  nod  before  they  took  their  seats  ;  they 
dared  not  look  him  in  the  face,  but  bowed  their 
head  to  show  their  reverence,  and  all  the  time  that 
he  was  present,  they  dared  not  think  of  anything 
save  what  he  said.'  This  was  not  all.  When  the 
other  lecturers  were  paid,  his  servant  came  to  claim 
his  toll  for  all  that  they  received.  Three  such 
"£  choirs'  we  read  of  in  Libanius,  but  we  know  little 
of  the  nature  of  their  harmony,  nor,  indeed,  whether 
it  was  by  arrangement  of  their  own,  or  as  an  institu- 
tion of  the  State  that  they  existed.  The  Professors 
had  to  entertain  each  other,  we  are  told,  at  dinner 
at  stated  times,  as  a  sort  of  Tutors'  Club,  in  forms 
prescribed  by  custom,  if  not  by  law,  besides  all  that 
was  left  to  the  free  hospitality  of  each. 

Libanius  himself  was  quite  a  professional  mag-  Libanius 
nate,  and  took  high  rank  in  the  scholastic   world,  rank  as  a 

Professor, 

mingling  on  equal  terms  with  civic  dignitaries  and 
imperial  ministers,  nor  scrupling  now  and  then  to 
pour  out  the  vials  of  his  wrath  upon  them  when  he 
felt  himself  slighted  or  aggrieved.  But  he  was  a 
servant  of  the  State  himself,  and  could  be  called  to 
account  for  hrs  official  work.  It  is  curious  to  read 


78      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
but  was       his  answer  to  one  critic  who  accused  him  of  neg- 

sharply 

called  to       lect  of  duty.      The  lecturer  and  his  class  had  been 

account  for 

hisprofes-     listening   one   morning   to   an  essay  written  by   a 

sional  work. 

ii.  266.  promising  young  pupil,  for  each  in  turn  wrote  out 
and  read  some  sort  of  exercise  in  public,  as  a  kind 
of  '  Terminal  Collections.'  On  such  occasions  there 
was  no  other  lecture  given  in  the  course  of  the 
forenoon,  and  the  Professor  was  chatting  with  his 
friends,  when  up  came  a  private  tutor,  protest- 
ing, in  the  interest  of  his  young  charge,  against 
the  many  holidays  which  were  allowed.  '  Here 
was  a  day  wasted  in  listening  to  a  theme  from  a 
young  prentice  hand  ;  at  other  times  they  had  to 
sit  in  idleness  while  the  Sophists  showed  their  vanity 
in  speeches  of  parade,  and  then  the  teacher  often 
missed  his  lectures  on  the  plea  that  he  was  ill,  or 
had  to  attend  on  the  funeral  of  some  acquaintance  ; 
and  even  when  the  class  was  kept  to  study,  they 
spent  so  much  time  over  the  old  classics,  that  they 
never  seemed  to  be  getting  forward  with  the  real 
work  of  education/  It  is  needless  to  inquire  into 
the  justice  of  these  personal  attacks,  or  follow  the 
accused  in  his  defence  ;  it  is  enough  to  see  that  in 
the  Universities  of  old  such  charges  might  be  made, 
and  must  be  met. 

Lib.  i.  237.          The  holidays  at  any  rate  were  getting  fewer.     At 
Antioch,  we  read,  the  fasts  and  feasts,  or  Saints'  days, 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  79 

as  we  may  call  them,  were  still  marked  upon  the 
calendar,  but  respect  for  them  was  growing  feeble. 

The  Professor  sent,  it  seems,  on  one  of  them,  to 
bid  his  class  attend  his  lecture,  but  they  all  declined 
to  come  on  the  plea  of  tender  conscience,  or  some 
mysterious  presentiment  of  evil  that  might  follow. 
One  pupil  only  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  brought 
an  essay  with  him  for  correction,  which  they  began 
to  read  together.  They  had  not  gone  on  long, 
however,  when  a  mass  of  stone  and  rubbish  came  tum- 
bling from  the  roof,  nearly  burying  the  student  and 
Professor,  and  bearing  witness  to  the  anger  of  the 
slighted  Saint,  to  whom  the  lecturer  addresses  a 
sort  of  elaborate  apology,  by  writing  for  the  public 
a  history  of  the  event.  Such  penal  consequences 
have  not  followed  yet  perhaps  from  the  like  violation 
of  old  customs  in  our  midst, 

It  was  with  natural  pride  that  the  great  Sophists 
pointed  to  the  proof  of  their  world-wide  reputation 
in  the  numbers  who  streamed  to  them  from  every  * 
land.  Libanius,  in  one  of  his  orations,  replying 
to  an  imaginary  critic,  says  that  he  is  too  modest  to 
aver  that  he  has  filled  the  three  continents  and  all 
the  islands,  as  far  as  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  with 
rhetoricians,  but  that  he  certainly  has  spiritual 
children — for  so  he  likes  to  call  them — in  Thrace, 
Constantinople,  and  Bithynia,  in  the  Hellespont,  1U* 444> 


8o      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

Ionia,  and  Caria  ;  some  few  even  among  the  Paphla* 
gonians  and  Cappadocians.  Far  more  there  were  in 
Galatia  and  in  Armenia,  and  most  of  all  in  Ciiicia 
and  Syria.  *  If  you  cross  the  Euphrates,  and  visit 
the  cities  which  lie  beyond  it,  you  will  find  some 
not  unworthy  members  of  our  brotherhood.  Phoe- 
nicia besides,  and  Palestine,  and  Arabia  owe  me  some 
gratitude.' 
The  lan-  Among  the  remaining  speeches  of  Himerius  are 

tfuage  of 

Himerius     several   addressed   to  the  freshmen  who  had  lately 

to  the  J 

freshmen      joined  his  classes.     He  is  careful  in  every  case  to 

was 

note  their  birth-place,  and  to  add  some  flattering 
words  of  reference  to  the  historic  glories  or  the  pre- 
sent importance  of  their  race,  while  dwelling  on  his 
pleasure  at  being  brought  into  such  wide-spread 
relations.  But  he  does  not  forget  to  respect  his 
dignity  amid  such  complimentary  phrases,  and  to 
magnify  the  importance  of  his  office.  The  language 
of  his  opening  address  is  as  solemn  as  that  of  any 
as  solemn  priest  of  the  Eleusinian  rites.  They  are  grave 
priest  at  the  mysteries,  of  which  he  holds  the  keys,  and  the  pro- 

mvsteries. 

Him.  ei      cess  of  initiation  has  begun.     *  Before  the  ceremony 

Wernsdorf. 

opens  which  is  to  give  you  access  to  the  sanctuary, 
let  me  distinctly  warn  you  what  you  should  do,  and 
what  refrain  from.  Let  the  ball  drop  from  your 
hands,  and  the  pen  alone  engage  your  care;  the 
sports  of  the  gymnasium  must  cease,  and  the  studio 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  8  1 

of  the  Muses  be  thrown  open.  Delicate  or  wanton 
habits  ill  accord  with  industry  ;  come  to  me,  if  you 
will,  unwashed,  so  you  set  your  foot  on  self-indulgence. 
There  in  a  few  words  you  have  my  precepts  and  my 
rule.  The  obedient  hearer  shall  find  grace  and  light. 
The  careless  and  refractory  shall  be  warned  off  the 
holy  fire,  and  find  no  access  to  the  sanctuary  of 
eloquence.  The  warning  applies  indeed  to  all,  but 
specially  to  you  who  are  freshmen  but  of  yesterday.' 

There  followed  a  sort  of  introduction  of  the 
younger  to  the  senior  students,  in  which  the  same 
set  of  religious  images  recurs,  drawn  from  the  lan- 
guage of  the  mysteries.  '  The  adept  already  familiar  xv.  s. 
with  the  sacred  way  is  the  best  guide  to  initiate  the 
inexperienced  novice,  as  old  sailors  can  best  steer 
the  ship,  and  old  hounds  teach  the  young  ones  how 
to  hunt." 

Then  began  in  the  forenoon  a  systematic  course 

J 


ii.  3IG. 

of  study,  for  later  in  the  day  private  lectures  only  The  co,l?se 


were  given  for  older  men  who  had  a  taste  for  learn- 
ing.  The  young  students  read  and  commented 
together  on  the  writings  of  the  classics,  on  the  older 
authors,  that  is,  whose  style  seemed  purest  or  senti- 
ments the  noblest.  Thus,  in  Libanius  we  have  a  in.  438. 
scholar  complaining  to  himself,  4  What  shall  I  gain 
from  all  this  ceaseless  work,  in  which  I  have  to  read 
right  through  so  many  poets,  and  so  many  rheto- 


82       University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

ricians,  and  writers  of  every  style  of  composition  ?  ' 
The  lecturers  discoursed  on  the  beauties,  or  on  the 
characteristic  features,  of  the  authors  ;  while  the  stu- 
dents, assisted  sometimes  by  the  slaves  who  wrote 
short-hand,  took  down  the  notes  of  what  they  heard, 
Iabanius,ii.  *°  reproduce  it  on  occasion.  It  would  seem  that 

QQ£ 

they  were  diligent  enough  in  this  respect,  as  in  our 
own  day,  for  we  read  that  in  a  single  month  they 
filled  their  note-books  many  times  with  hints  and 
illustrations  of  good  style.  The  comments  were 

Themistius, 

289«.  often  wearisomely  long,  if  we  may  trust  a  critic^  who 

LibaniuSjii. 

273.  talks  of  their  '  wasting  as  much  time  in  dissecting 

one  poor  book  as  the  Greek  warriors  spent  at  Troy.' 

but  only  of   Their  studies  in   philology   extended  only   to   one 

the  Greek  8J 

language,  language.  The  literature  of  Rome  was  quite  ignored 
by  these  disdainful  schoolmen,  as  unworthy  to  be 
mentioned  by  the  side  of  Demosthenes  and  Homer. 
Even  Demosthenes  himself  seemed  somewhat  too  bare 
and  unadorned  in  style  to  suit  the  fastidious  taste  of 
this  late  age  ;  he  was  read  and  quoted  with  respect, 
indeed,  but  the  real  models  of  their  imitation  were  the 
showy  and  inflated  periods  of  masters  of  rhetoric 

together       like  Polemon  and  Aristides.     Meantime  they  laid  to 

with  rules 

ofifi?toric.  heart  elaborate  theories  of  literary  grace;  trained 
their  ears  to  catch  the  rhythm  of  each  sentence,  and 
to  note  the  significance  of  accent,  and  the  varying 
use  of  anapaest  or  spondee  at  the  close  of  every 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  83 

period.  Verbal  analysis  was  not  forgotten  ;  rules  of 
synonyms  and  homonyms  and  paronyms  had  to  be 
mastered  and  remembered,  with  all  the  machinery  of 
tropes  and  figures. 

Before  long  the  principles  must  be  applied  to  original 

_  composi- 

compositions  of  their  own,  and  essays  and  themes  of  tions  were 
every  kind  became  the  order  of  the  day.  The 
pedagogues  might  lend  their  aid,  and  recall  to 
memory  the  lecturer's  hints,  turn  out  the  classical 
authors  whose  thoughts  or  images  could  be  pressed 
into  the  service,  or  stimulate  the  flagging  industry 
of  their  young  charges.  But  the  exercises  must  be 
brought  in  time  under  the  Professor's  eye,  to  be 
examined  and  corrected,  and  to  serve  as  evidence  of 
progress  made.  Their  fluency  of  speech  was  trained 

meantime,  and  all  the  rules  of  dialectic  learnt.     It  and  exer- 
cises in 
was  not  enough  for  them  to  bring  their  essays  care-  logic  and 

elocution 

fully  prepared  on  subjects  long  ago  suggested ;  they 
must  learn  to  improvise  on  any  question  laid  before 
them,  show  their  perfect  self-possession  and  easy 
grace  in  an  extempore  debate. 

They  stored  their  memories  for  this  purpose  with 
a  whole  stock  of  common-places  (^psiai)  which  could 
readily  be  turned  to  good  account ;  they  studied  their 
teacher's  oratorical  displays,  which  were  published 
often  for  their  use,  that  they  too  might  learn  to 
show  off  upon  occasion  with  an  elaborate  harangue 


84      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


.  They  fancied  themselves  bidding  adieu 
to  friends  upon  a  journey,  and  took  leave  in  appro- 
priate style  (TrpoTrs/JLTTTifcoi  \6yoi)  ;  or  addressed 
complimentary  speeches  (Trpoo-^wwrjfuiTiKoi)  to  the 
great  men,  ministers  of  state  or  generals,  who  might 
one  day  look  in  upon  them  at  their  work.  Or  they 
took  their  themes  from  ancient  history,  and  de- 
claimed, like  the  Roman  lads  of  Juvenal's  age,  and 
gave  their  good  advice  to  Sulla,  or  wrangled  about 
the  course  of  action  which  it  would  have  been  wiser 
for  Hannibal  to  follow. 

Bat  the  The  lecturers  were  very  far  indeed  from  saying 

professed  to  that  their  pupils  needed  only  to  have  courses  of  rhe- 
more  than    toric  and  logic.  Their  curriculum  of  study  had  a  much 

rhetoric. 

Greg,  in       more  ambitious  sound.      Thus  Gregory  isazianzen 

laud.  Basil.    ^   ug    ^^    hig    friend    g  Uule    Rg    he   w&g  in 


sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  the  place,  traversed  the 
whole  round  of  academic  study,  not  only  mastered 
rhetoric  and  philology,  but  excelled  all  others  in 
philosophy,  including  in  the  term  ethics  and  meta- 
physics, as  well  as  the  rules  of  dialectic.  Not  con- 
tent with  that,  he  went  on  to  mathematical  inquiries, 
rising  even  to  astronomy,  after  learning  the  proper- 
ties of  numbers  and  of  figures.  Then  at  last  he 
studied  medicine,  both  in  theory  and  practice, 

So  too,  when  Himerius  traces  a  sketch   of  the 
liberal  education  of  his  day  in  the  person  of  his  friend 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  85 

Hermogenes,  he  made  him  speedily  devote  himself 
to  the  study  of  philosophy,  in  the  several  stages  of 
morals,  physics  and  theology.  In  so  doing  he  mastered 
not  merely  the  doctrines  of  a  single  school,  but  was 
at  home  alike  in  all  the  great  systems  of  Greek 
thought.  Like  Basil,  he  too  learnt  astronomy,  and 
also  travelled  far  and  wide  to  gain  a  practical  ac- 
quaintance with  the  outer  face  of  nature. 

But,  indeed,  we  need  not  be  so  much  impressed  But  the 

course  of 

with  this  encyclopaedia  of  learning.     With  all  their  study  was 

more  ira- 

iinposing  names  these  sciences  were  something  quite  posing  than 

profound 

different  from  what  we  think  them  now.  The  ex- 
perimental methods  had  not  been  applied  as  yet,  and 
few  of  nature's  secrets  were  discovered,  as  compared 
with  the  stores  of  information  since  amassed. 
/  In  place  of  careful  study  of  the  facts,  men  ac- 
cepted principles  unproven,  oftentimes  unprovable ; 
they  dealt  with  theories  instead  of  things  ;  and  specu- 
lation in  all  the  spheres  of  philosophy,  morals,  and 
religion  tended  to  mystic  reverie  and  edifying  talk. 
In  the  academic  schools,  moreover,  such  grave  studies 
were  not  pursued  from  any  earnest  love  of  truth, 
from  the  real  desire  to  probe  the  mysteries  of  nature, 
or  draw  the  veil  a  little  further  back-;  but  rather 
as  a  source  of  varied  illustration,  to  furnish  the 
rhetorician's  stock-in-trade,  to  give  a  glib  assurance 
to  the  speaker,  or  a  show  of  dignified  omniscience. 


86      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens 


The  evi- 
dence re- 
maining in 
the  public 
lectures 
of  dis- 
tinguished 
professors ; 


as,  for 
example,  of 
Himerius. 


Armed  with  a  large  array  of  sounding  phrases,  and 
passing  with  ease  from  technicalities  to  common- 
place, he  could  suit  himself  to  every  hearer,  and  hold 
his  own  on  every  question  in  debate. 

Is  such  a  criticism  thought  too  sweeping  or  severe  ? 
We  may  turn,  perhaps  with  interest,  to  see  how  far  it 
is  confirmed  by  the  works  which  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  masters  of  the  schools.  These  are,  as  it  is 
natural  to  suppose,  their  greater  efforts :  inaugural 
addresses  at  the  opening  of  term,  when  the  holidays 
of  summer  had  passed  by,  and  the  lecturer  met  his 
class  again.  Often  they  were  lectures  of  parade, 
delivered  in  the  Long  Vacation,  when  the  daily 
catechisings  were  suspended,  and  time  and  energy 
were  left  entire  for  bolder  flight  of  rhetoric.  Or  when 
distinguished  visitors  passed  by,  crowned  heads,  or 
ministers,  or  provincial  governors,  and  the  local 
magistrates  came  out  in  state  to  do  them  honour, 
the  ceremony  was  not  thought  complete  if  the  fore- 
most orator  did  not  grace  it  with  a  speech. 

For  purposes  like  these  the  talents  of  Himerius 
were  always  in  request.  An  encomium  or  elegy  from 
his  pen  was  looked  for  as  a  thing  of  course  on  state 
occasions,  as  much  as  in  later  days  an  ode  from  a 
Poet  Laureate,  or  an  eloge  from  a  French  Academi- 
cian. Take  all,  or  any  of  these  lectures — there 
are  some  volumes  ready  for  our  use  by  different 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  87 

authors — read  and  re-read  in  search  of  the  ripe  fruit 
of  all  this  varied  study.  Where  are  the  new  canons 
of  literary  taste,  the  fine  theories  of  poetic  art,  the 
principles  of  historic  method,  the  critical  survey  of 
great  schools  of  moral  thought.  Now,  if  ever,  surely 
might  a  large  and  learned  eclecticism  flourish,  com- 
paring and  balancing  the  errors  of  one-sided  systems, 
full  of  delicate  sympathy  and  insight,  if  wanting  in 
creative  power.  We  turn  over  the  pages,  and  we 
only  feel  the  more  how  impossible  it  is  to  enter  fully 
into  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  generations  that 
are  gone.  We  know  that  the  charms  of  style  are 
evanescent,  and  we  must  lose  the  graces  of  natural 
gesture  and  of  modulated  .voice ;  but  surely  here  is  a 
poor  outcome  of  all  this  earnest  study,  and  all  this 
gathered  store  of  learning,  in  thought  which  hardly 
ever  rises  above  the  sameness  of  dull  common-place, 
relieved  but  ill  by  tags  of  poetry  and  borrowed 
images,  which  to  our  modern  taste  seem  often  in- 
congruous and  insipid. 

It  may  be  urged,  indeed,  and  with  some  show  of  it  is  hard, 
J  indeed,  for 

reason,  that  we  have  here  only  the  works  of  rhetori-  «s  to  do 

justice 

cians,  more  intent  on  beauty  of  form  than  breadth  of  to  the 

rhetorical 

thought,  and  that  for  the  higher  education  of  the  age  beauties  of 
we  must  turn  to  other  teachers.     It  may  be  well  to 
weigh  both  these  objections.     As  to  the  first,  it  is 
quite  true  that  there  is  a  real  danger  of  injustice  in 


88      University  Life  in  Ancient  AtJiens. 

our  criticism  of  these  schoolmen.  It  is  so  hopeless 
for  us  now  to  try  to  feel  what  the  sensitive  ears  of 
the  old  Greeks  must  have  felt,  we  are  so  ignorant  of 
the  rhythmical  melodies  of  the  language  which  they 
spoke,  and  whose  resources  they  studied  with  so  fond 
a  love,  that  periods  which  roused  them  to  enthusiasm 
fall  flat  and  cold  on  our  unsympathetic  nerves.  Nor 
is  this  all,  our  sensibilities  for  grace  and  beauty  have 
certainly  not  kept  pace  with  our  scientific  progress. 
Our  deepest  thinkers  are  often  quite  indifferent  to 
the  elegance  of  literary  form.  They  may  see  to  it 
that  the  words  shall  faithfully  reflect  the  thoughts, 
but  beyond  that  they  often  neglect  entirely  the 
niceties  of  style,  and  would  almost  despise  them- 
selves for  caring  much  about  the  harmonies  of 
balanced  cadence,  or  the  subtleties  of  characteristic 
phrase.  And  so  we  listen  with  a  natural  impatience 
when  we  hear  of  the  laboured  efforts  of  these  rhetori- 
cians to  gain  an  entire  mastery  over  the  beauties 
of  their  language,  or  to  make  perfection  of  the  out- 
ward form  their  end  and  aim.  Yet  after  all  they 
were  musicians,  playing  on  an  instrument  of  many 
strings ;  and  if  through  them  they  stirred  the  fancy 
and  touched  the  hearts  of  a  thousand  hearers,  we 
have  no  right  to  underrate  their  skill,  because  some 
of  the  strings  are  tuneless  in  our  ears,  or  our  ignorant 
hands  have  never  learnt  to  use  them  deftly. 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  89 

But   is   it   true,   that  at  the  University  there  Was  there 

much 

was  much  teaching  of  a  higher  order,  thrown  into  teaching  of 
the  shade,  perhaps,  by  the  popular  graces  of  these  order? 
literary  artists,  but  still  ready,  if  required,  for  any 
deep  and  earnest  thinkers  ?    One  potent  influence  of 
this  kind  there  was  elsewhere  already,  soon  to  be 
better   represented  also  in   the  schools   of  Athens, 
for  without  doubt  the  Neoplatonic  system  was  not 
wanting  in  vigour  or  intensity  of  thought.     But  we 
cannot  take  this  as  the  type  of  what  was  then  in 
vogue,  as  the  professorial  teaching  of  philosophy. 
Eather  for  that  purpose  we  may  take  Themistius,  The 
versed  in  all  the  Aristotelian  lore,  and  famous  at  this  Themistius, 

though 

time  as  Public  Lecturer  in  the  New  Rome,  the  seat  professedly 

aphil- 

of  Empire.  A  volume  of  his  popular  works  survives  osopher, 
to  show  us  what  was  the  spirit  of  his  teaching.  He 
is  very  careful,  more  than  once,  to  hold  himself  dis- 
tinct from  all  the  Sophists  of  the  day.  To  make  the 
contrast  more  explicit,  he  describes  them  as  Plato  did 
his  rivals  of  old  time,  following  closely  in  his  master's 
steps,  and  using  the  same  definitions  for  the  heads  of 
his  own  lecture.  Thanks  to  his  own  ample  means, 
he  need  not  teach  in  any  mercenary  spirit,  or  vex 
his  pupils  for  their  tutor's  dues,  or,  like  his  rivals, 
puff  and  advertise  his  literary  wares  ;  but  thanks  still 
more  to  the  genial  spirit  of  philosophy,  he  was  raised 
above  suspicion  of  betraying  the  interests  of  truth, 


9O      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

and  making  the  worse  appear  the  better  cause.  The 
Sophists  might  dwell  contentedly  in  their  unrealities 
of  dreamland,  but  eternal  verities  alone  engaged  the 
attention  of  his  class. 

If  so,  however,  it  must  be  admitted  that  only  the 

privileged  few  might  enter  into  the  inner  circle  of 

such  mysteries.     In  the  discourses  which  are  left, 

popular        he  has  borrowed  all  the  rhetorician's  tools,  and  used 

and  rhet- 

his°iecture8  ^em  seemingty  without  misgiving.      Homeric  illus- 

So'hilte       ^rations  cropping  up  in  subjects  most  incongruous  to 

their  use,  frigid  conceits  of  stalest  imagery,  wordy 

developments  of  thought  already  worn  threadbare, 

this  is  what  Themistius  thought  enough  to  attract 

an  ignorant  public  to  the  fruits  of  liberal  culture. 

As  moral  He    takes   credit   to   himself   for   forming   the 

he  and  the    character  of  those  who  listen,  and  helping  them  for- 

Sopbiata 

were  easily    ward  on  the  road  to  virtue  ;  and  indeed  his  lectures 
by  the         read  often  like  dull  sermons,  though  delivered  from 

Christian 

doctors.  the  Professor's  Chair.  But  as  preachers  of  righteous- 
ness the  schoolmen  were  easily  surpassed  by  the  great 
doctors  of  the  church,  who  like  themselves  had 
mastered  all  the  rules  of  rhetoric,  and  used  them  in 
a  nobler  cause.  Some  there  were,  indeed,  who  tried 
to  breathe  new  life  into  the  dry  bones  of  heathen 
ethics,  whose  mystic  enthusiasm  and  devotional 
warmth  were  quite  unknown  to  earlier  ages;  but 
they  could  not  vie  with  the  fire  of  intense  conviction, 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  91 

the  vigour  of  invective,  the  weight  of  personal  cha- 
racter with  which  their  rivals  denounced  the  vices 
of  the  age,  or  enlarged  upon  the  mysteries  of  faith. 

In  another  chapter  we  may  enter  more  into  details  This  may 
upon  the  struggle  between  the  old  and  new  religions,  account 
in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  subject  now  before  us;  it  dwindling 

numbers 

remains  only  here  to  note  its  influence  on  the  outer  and  reputa- 
tion of  the 
fortunes  of  the  schools,  in  their  fading  prestige  and  schools. 

dwindling  numbers.  We  may  fail,  indeed,  to  re- 
cognise the  change,  so  long  as  we  are  only  dealing 
with  the  greatest  names  among  the  schoolmen.  We 
see  that  they  still  take  a  high  rank  in  their  cities, 
have  honours  and  riches  showered  upon  them,  receive 
distinctions  from  their  Sovereigns,  and  even  military 
decorations,  as  Proaeresius  was  made  the  colonel  of  a 
regiment,  and  had  a  statue  raised  to  him  at  Rome, 
with  the  inscription  on  it,  '  the  Queen  of  Cities  to  Eunapius 
the  King  of  Eloquence.'  They  are  indispensable  on 
state  occasions,  as  the  official  orators  of  every  im- 
portant cause.  Provincial  Governors  send  them 
pupils  as  a  mark  of  their  esteem,  and  go  in  state  to 
their  inaugural  addresses.  Sometimes  also  they 
honour  them  bv  letting  their  own  children  join  the  Libanius, 

in.  134. 

class,  forgetting  however  to  send  the  customary  fees, 
or  even  any  present  of  fruit,  or  wine,  or  geme. 

But  the  rank  and  file  are  not  so  lucky,  and  before 
long  they  keenly  feel  the  suspense  and  discouragement 


92      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
Liban.         of  a  decaying  trade.     We  have,  indeed,  a  humorous 

Epist.  401. 

definition  of  the  Sophist,  given  us  by  one  of  their 
own  number,  in  which  stress  is  laid  on  their  big 
houses,  multitudes  of  pupils,  rounded  paunch,  and 
insinuating  ways.     But  the  reverse  of  the  picture  is 
presented,  though  still  in  jesting  vein,  by  the  same 
writer,  when  he  maintains  that  the  Sophist's  trade  is 
but  a  form  of  slavery,  in  gilded  chains  at  best.     He 
has  to  flatter  the  friends  and  parents  of  his  pupils, 
and  say   that  they  are  prodigies  of  talent,  though 
they  may  be  hopeless  blockheads ;  he  must  pay  court 
to  the  innkeepers  and  tradesmen,  and  the  masters  of 
the  lodging-houses,  that  they  may  not  give  him  a  bad 
name,  or  prejudice  the  freshmen  against  his  training- 
college  for  young  sophists  (crofa&Twv  spya(TTt')piov} ; 
he  must  make  interest  with  the  Aldermen,  lest  in  a 
fit  of  spleen  or  of  caprice  they  may  deprive  him  of 
his  Chair ;  he  must  not  even  forget  to  have  a  ready 
word  and  liberal  fee  for  the  porters  at  the  great  men's 
houses.     When  the  day  comes  for  any  of  his  studied 
lectures,  to  which  the  general  public  is  invited,  the 
veriest  dolt,  the  most  irreverent  witling,  soldier  or 
pugilist  or  what-not,  may  spoil  his  happiness  by  check- 
ing Oif*  natural  movement  of  applause.     The  writer 
however  does  not  always  speak  so  lightly.     One  of  his 
speeches  contains  a  strong  appeal  in  behalf  of  the 
poorer  members  of  his  own  profession,  in  which  he 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  93 

draws  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  misery  to  which  illustration 
they  were  exposed.     A  French  bishop  pleading  for  his  speech  of 


clergy,  who  can  scarcely  live  upon  their  scanty  pit-  f 


tance,  taunting  the  state  for  its  cruel  neglect  of  so 

many  of  its  faithful  servants  ;  this  would  he,  perhaps, 

the  nearest  analogue  in  our  experience  to  the  Sophist's 

expostulation  with   the   citizens   of   Antioch.     '  Be  Lib  ^  2<)y 

not  misled,'  he  says,  '  by  names  like  those  of  orators 

and  professorial  Chairs,  but  listen  to  the  truth  from 

one  who  knows  it  well.      Some  of  them  have  not 

even  now  a  cottage  of  their  own,  but,  like  cobblers, 

live  in  hired  lodgings  ;  or  if  any  one  has  bought  a 

little  house,  it  is  still  so  mortgaged  that  the  owner 

has  more  anxiety  than  if  he  had  never  bought  it. 

*  One  has  three  slaves,  another  two,  a  third  still 
fewer  ;  these  are  all  the  more  insolent  and  tipsy,  be- 
cause their  master  is  so  poor.  .  .  .  One  rhetorician 
counts  himself  a  lucky  man  because  he  only  has  a 
single  child;  another  thinks  his  numerous  family 
a  real  misfortune;  the  prudent  avoid  marriage 
altogether.  In  former  days,  the  schoolmen  used  to 
stroll  into  the  goldsmiths'  shops,  and  talk  freely  to 
the  craftsmen,  finding  fault  with  the  workmanship 
of  one,  or  pointing  out  the  finer  tooling,  or  praising 
them  for  promptitude,  or  blaming  them  if  they  were 
too  slow.  Now  they  have  to  deal  mainly  with  the 
bakers,  to  whom  they  owe  the  very  bread  they  eat  ; 


94      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

they  have  to  promise  that  they  soon  will  pay,  and 
beg  a  little  more  meantime  ;  they  are  driven  to 
grievous  straits,  for  they  would  gladly  shun  their 
shops,  because  they  are  ashamed  to  owe  them  money, 
but  are  forced  by  hunger  to  go  to  them  again. 
As  the  debt  goes  on  increasing  always,  and  no 
funds  come  in  to  meet  it,  they  curse  their  literary 
craft,  and  carry  to  the  bakers  the  earrings  or  neck- 
lace of  their  wives ;  they  must  not  think  what 
present  they  can  give  them  to  replace  it,  but  only 
what  other  ornament  there  is  to  sell. 

*  Their  lessons  over,  they  do  not  hurry  home,  as 
would  be  natural,  to  enjoy  their  leisure,  but  linger 
awhile  longer  in  their  lecture  rooms,  because  they 
know  that  they  will  feel  their  misery  more  at  home. 
They  sit  down,  and  talk  and  bemoan  their  wretched- 
ness to  one  another,  but  each  finds  that  however 
piteous  his  tale,  he  has  something  worse  to  hear.' 

The  Speaker  claims  his  right  to  raise  his  voice 
in  their  behalf  even  in  the  council  chamber.  Their 
influence  had  made  Antioch  what  it  was — the  home 
of  liberal  studies ;  their  moral  character  was  worthy 
of  themselves  and  of  the  reputation  of  the  State. 
He  couM  point  to  their  bearing  their  poverty  with 
unrepining  patience,  mingling  with  noblemen  and 
squires,  but  saying  nothing  of  their  personal  wants, 
and  meantime  neglecting  none  of  the  duties  of  their 


The  Professors  of  Rhetoric.  95 

calling.  The  artisans,  in  their  workshops,  might 
indeed  make  much  ado  about  the  fees  and  presents 
on  which  the  teachers  grew  so  fat,  but  in  sad  earnest 
they  were  very  few,  and  national  help  was  needed  if 
they  would  not  see  them  starve. 

He  does  not  ask,  however,  for  a  grant  of  public 
money,  the  pressure  of  which  would  fall  upon  the 
rates;  but  there  were  waste  lands  at  the  disposal  of  the 
city,  ground  at  least  which  was  unclaimed  at  present, 
most  of  which,  indeed,  must  go  to  the  landowners,  to 
meet  the  growing  burdens  of  taxation,  but  of  which, 
perhaps,  some  little  might  be  spared  to  supply  each 
teacher  with  a  modest  glebe. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  our  information  on  this 
point  deals  solely  with  the  state  of  things  at  Antioch, 
but  the  same  forces  were  at  work  elsewhere,  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  like  holds  good 
for  Athens. 


96 


Our  pic- 
tures of 
student  life 
at  Athens 
are  drawn 
mainly 
from 

writers  of 
the  fourth 
century 


fto 

students 
were  of 
Attic  race 


CHAPTER  IV, 

STUDENT     LIFE. 

IT  is  from  the  writers  of  the  fourth  century  that  we 
mainly  learn  the  habits  of  the  student  world  at 
Athens.  So  many  men  of  eminence,  both  Christians 
and  Pagans,  passed  years  of  their  growing  manhood 
in  its  schools,  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  in  later  life 
they  recurred  fondly  to  the  friendships  formed,  the 
knowledge  learnt,  and  even  to  the  frivolities  and 
pranks  witnessed  if  not  indulged  in  by  themselves. 
Scarcely  any  of  the  teachers,  and  few  seemingly 
among  the  students,  were  of  the  Attic  race.  *  Men 
of  all  the  nations  subject  to  the  Roman  sway,*  says 
Eunapius,  e  were  gathered  there ; '  but  the  West  was 
little  represented.  Italian  names  seldom  occur  in 
our  authorities,  for  Autun  (Augustodunum)  and 
Treves  (Augusta  Treverorum),  Marseilles  and  Alex- 
andria, in  addition  to  the  old  imperial  city,  carried 
off  probably  the  studious  youth  of  one-half  of  the 
empire.  But  the  Hellenized  inhabitants  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  the  populations  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia 


Student  Life.  97 

betook  themselves  especially  to  Athens,  whose  name 
stood   highest   wherever  the   language   and   art   of 
Greece  were  prized.   Many  came  in  riper  years,  after  So™6  were 
a  long- course  of  study,  spent  in  one  or  more  of  the 
other  seats  of  learning,  as  German  students  in  our  own 
days  pass  from  one  University  to  another,  attracted 
by  some  celebrated   name.     Thus  the  future  Em- 
peror Julian  was  twenty-four,  Basil  was  twenty -five, 
and  Gregory  Nazianzen  nearly  thirty  when  they  still 
carried  on  the  life  which  brought  them  there  together. 
Sometimes  even  practised  teachers  sought  to  profit 
for  a  time   by  the  experience  and  skill  of  a  more 
conspicuous  talent.      But   more    often    they  were  butcom- 
younger  than  the  undergraduates  of  our  own  days,  were  veiy* 
Eunapius  the   biographer  was   only  sixteen,  as  he  5°V 
tells  us,  when  he  entered,  and  they  are  spoken  of 
so  often  as  mere  lads  in  the  speeches  of  the  time 
that  we  cannot  doubt  that  they  were  very  young. 

As  they  came  at   such  an  early  age  from  dis- 
tant homes,   and   their   parents    very   rarely   could 
be   with    them — though   we  do   hear   of    some   at 
times — they   often   had   their   personal  attendants,  whohml 
pedagogues  or  private  tutors,  to  exercise  some  eon~  Pnvate 


trol,  and  represent  the  influence  of  home.     *  Watch-  thcm ' 
men  and  guardians,'  as  they  were   termed  in  the 
rhetorical  phrases  of  the  day ;  '  bulwarks  to  protect 
the  growing  manhood,  barking  hounds  to  frighten 

H 


98      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


Libamus, 

ill*  *§o. 


but  the 

professors 

exercised  a 

moral 

supervision, 


and  each 

freshman 

specially 


The 

touted  for 

their  own 

professors, 


away  wolves,'  they  watched  over  the  daily  life  of 
their  young  charges,  kept  them  to  their  hours  of 
study,  warning,  encouraging,  arid  threatening  even  in 
the  last  resort  ;  they  travelled  with  them  over  the 
subject  of  the  Professors'  lectures,  looked  to  see  if 
their  notes  were  rightly  taken,  and  helped  them 
often  in  their  exercises.  Yet  they  were  commonly 
of  lower  social  rank,  and  as  such  had  not  always 
moral  weight,  -and  even  were  at  times  exposed,  as  we 
shall  see,  to  sorry  treatment.  So  the  public  teachers 
were  expected  to  exert  a  pastoral  care  ;  the  lecturers 
speak  of  themselves  as  shepherds,  and  their  audience 
as  a  flock  which  they  must  tend. 

It  was  the  first  thing  for  every  youth   on   his 

.  _ 

arrival  to  put  himself  upon  the  list  of  some  Pro- 
fessor,  chosen  at  the  wish  of  guardians  or  friends, 
and,  after  some  sort  of  examination  and  settlement 
of  money  terms,  his  name  was  entered  on  the  roll, 
and  he  was  made  free  of  all  the  future  courses.  But 
this  was  not  always  such  a  simple  matter  as  it  may 
seem  to  us  at  first  sight.  Let  us  hear  what  Gregory 
Nazianzen  has  to  tell  us.  *  Most  of  the  young 
enthusiasts  for  learning^  noble  and  lowborn  alike, 
become  mad  partisans  of  their  Professor.  As  those 
wh°  have  a  passionate  love  of  racing  hardly  can  con- 
tain themselves,  but  copy  all  the  gestures  of  the 
jockeys,  or  bet  upon  the  horses  entered  for  the  prize, 


Student  Life.  99 

although  they  hardly  have  the  wherewithal  to  live 
themselves  ;  so  the  students  show  like  eagerness  for 
their  teachers  and  the  masters  of  their  favourite 
studies :  they  are  all  anxiety  to  get  their  audience 
larger,  and  to  have  their  fees  increased.  And  this 
is  carried  to  portentous  lengths.  They  post  them- 
selves over  the  city,  on  the  highways,  about  the 
harbour,  on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  nay,  in  lonely 
spots ;  they  win  over  the  inhabitants  to  join  their 
faction.  As  each  new  comer  disembarks,  he  falls 
"into  their  hands  ;  they  carry  him  off  at  once  to  the 
house  of  some  countryman  or  friend,  who  is  bent  on 
trumpeting  the  praises  of  his  own  Professor,  and  by 
that  means  gaining  his  favour  or  exemption  from 
his  fees.' 

Libanius  was  one   of  those  who   suffered   most  Libanius 

suffered 

hardly  from  this  practice,  and  in  his  memoirs  he  from  this 

practice. 

draws  a  lively  picture  of  his  treatment.  Hardly  had  ^  13. 
he  set  foot  in  the  city,  after  the  hazards  of  a  winter 
voyage  from  Constantinople,  than  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  party  of  these  touters,  who,  carrying  him 
off  by  main  force,  kept  him  in  durance  vile  until  he 
promised  to  give  up  his  former  plans,  and  attach 
himself  to  the  lecturer  for  whom  they  catered.  They 
made  light  of  all  his  protests,  and  only  let  him  out 
when  he  had  bound  himself  by  solemn  oath.  He 
went  accordingly  to  lecture  with  them,  but,  whether 

H  2 


ioo     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

from  chagrin  or  not,  he  was  very  painfully  impressed 
by  the  feebleness  of  the  instruction  given,  and  was 
in  no  mood  to  join  the  others  in  their  rapturous 
applause.  Their  scowling  looks,  however,  speedily 
convinced  him  that  it  might  be  dangerous  to 
criticise  too  freely,  so  he  excused  himself  upon  the 
plea  that  he  was  suffering  from  sore  throat,'  and 
must  sit  by  in  silent  admiration.  But  as  soon  as  he 
safely  could,  he  quietly  gave  up  attending,  betook 
himself  to  lonely  studies,  training  himself  on  the  old 
models,  yet  never  quite  forgot  his  disappointment,  or 
spoke  otherwise  than  with  contempt  of  the  lecturers 
of  Athens. 
The  practi-  Nor  was  this  the  only  ordeal  which  the  freshmen 

f-al  jokes  to 

which  the     had  to  bear.     They  were  exposed  to  other  treatment, 

freshmen 

were  sub-     in  sorrv  taste  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  as  practical  jokes 

jecteiL 

are  commonly,  with  little  Attic  salt  about  them.  Yet 
Gregory,  even  in  a  funeral  speech  on  his  friend  Basil, 
lingers  complaisant  ly  on  such  memories  of  their  youth. 
He  tells  us  how  the  novice,  just  arrived  and  carried 
off  to  the  house  of  some  acquaintance,  was  set  upon 
and  badgered  by  the  senior  men  about  him.  If  he 
was  very  fresh,  and  inexperienced  in  repartee,  they 
resorted  to  mere  vulgar  banter;  but  if  he  showed 
any  quickness  in  retort,  they  tried  upon  him  all  the 
resources  of  their  practised  wit.  Wearied  of  this, 
at  last  they  set  off  for  a  walk,  which  proved  to  be  a 


Student  Life.  '  i'pi 

sort  of  mock  parade  of  the  new-comer.  Two  and 
two  they  paced  the  streets  in  slow  procession,  till 
they  brought  him  to  the  bath;  but  as  they  drew 
near  they  broke  out  suddenly  into  frantic  uproar,  as 
if  the  door  were  barred  and  they  must  needs  take 
the  place  by  storm.  After  this  feint  of  assault  and 
of  defence,  when  the  nerve  of  the  freshman  had  been 
tested,  they  took  him  in  at  last,  and  the  trials  of  the 
novitiate  were  over. 

Now  and  then,  by  special  favour,  some  were  spared,  f  e,JJ 
Eunapius,  on  his  way  by  sea  to  the  Piraeus,  had  EunaPiu9 
been  struck  down  by  fever,  and  carried  to  a  lodging 
in  an  almost  hopeless  state.  A  quack  doctor  was 
allowed  to  try  his  hand  upon  him,  when  his  life  was 
now  despaired  of,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  he  cured 
his  patient.  The  news  spread  through  the  city,  and 
Proaeresius,  the  professor,  showed  a  lively  interest 
when  he  heard  it.  So5  turning  to  his  class,  he  said, 

*  Excuse  him,  if  you  love  me,  the  ordeal  of  the  bath, 
and  be  sparing  of  your  jests  and  banter ;  treat  him 
as  if  he  were  my  son.' 

In  like  manner,  in  the  case  of  Basil,  Gregory  and  Basil, 
interceded  for  his  countryman,  whose  character,  he 
knew,  was   far   too  earnest   and   reserved   to  enter 
readily  into  such  poor  jests.     *  This,'  says  Gregory, 

*  was  the  beginning  of  our  friendship,  for  no  one 
in  our  time,  save  him,  was  exempted  from  the  general 


IO 2      University ;  L ife  in  A ncient  A  thens. 

law.'  Yet  even  so  he  did  not  quite  escape  from 
captious  quibbles.  Some  Armenian  students,  jealous 
possibly  of  the  young  freshman's  reputation,  set 
upon  him  unawares,  and  tried  to  draw  him  into  a 
dispute  ;  and  even  Gregory  at  first  failed  to  see  their 
malice.  But  they  found  their  match  in  the  clear- 
headed Basil,  who  was  too  strong  for  them  in 
dialectic,  and  made  his  way  out  of  their  snares. 
National  Besides  the  references  already  made  to  the  ties 

difference!* 

seem  to        of  race  among  the  youths,  there  seems  evidence  of 

have  been 

marked  hv    closer  union  among  the  several  nations  represented 

sociai  clubs. 

than  can  be  found  at  earlier  times.  In  Philostratus, 
indeed,  we  read  of  the  Greek  set,  as  if  it  were  kept 
separate  from  the  rest ;  but  now  we  are  told  of  na- 
tional differences,  so  strongly  marked,  as  if  they  had 
some  organised  form  of  clubs  or  social  unions  among 
them,  somewhat  as  in  later  days  we  read  in  modern 
Universities  of  standing  jealousies  between  north  and 
south,  or  recognised  subdivision  into  nations.  There 
Oiympio-  are  some  data  even  whicli  may  lead  us  to  infer  that 
Phot.  63.  not  only  were  the  students  to  be  distinguished  as 
Lib.  ii.  432.  g(>(Vn8men  from  the  world,  but  that  each  nation  had 
its  own  variety  of  academic  garb.  They  grouped 
themselves  in  this  way  round  their  favourite  Pro- 
fessors, attracted  often  by  such  local  ties,  and  thus 
intensified  by  sympathies  of  race  the  passionate  spirit 
of  their  partisanship. 


Student  Life.  103 

On   one   occasion  we   are  told   that  the  whole  The 

factious 

University  was  split  up  into  angry  factions  in  the  spirit  of 

J  these  illus- 

interest  of  rival  teachers.     But  Progeresius  had  bv  tratedby 

Eunapius 

far  the  largest  following.  All  Pontus  and  Bithynia 
grouped  itself  around  him.  The  western  coast  of 
Asia,  from  Lydia  to  Tarsus,  was  with  him  to  a  man. 
Even  Egypt  and  the  regions  far  beyond  to  unknown 
distances  flocked  to  hear  him  and  to  sound  his 
praises.  So  hot  grew  the  disputes  at  times  among 
them,  that  the  teachers  hardly  dared  to  show  them- 
selves outside  their  doors,  and  lectured  in  their 
houses,  lest  their  appearance  in  the  streets,  escorted 
home  by  their  young  partisans,  should  be  the  signal 
for  a  riot.  One  such  we  hear  of  more  at  length  in 
the  pages  of  Eunapius,  and  it  may  serve,  to  illustrate 
still  further  the  relation  of  tutor  to  his  pupils. 

Julian,  the  leading  Sophist  of  his  time,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  had  kept  himself  care- 
fully in  doors,  and  taught  his  scholars  in  his  theatre, 
for  fear  of  an  affray ;  but  some  of  them  were  set  upon 
by  students  of  the- rival  faction  of  Apsines,  who,  not 
content  with  such  rough  usage,  actually  cited  them  be- 
fore a  court  of  law,  as  if  the  others  were  the  aggressors. 

The  case  was  brought  for  hearing  before  the 
Provincial  Governor  himself,  who  had  Julian  appre- 
hended, with  all  his  pupils  who  were  concerned  in 
the  affair.  Apsines  too  was  present  to  advise  and 


104     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

prompt  his  friends  the  prosecutors,  though  the 
Judge  eyed  him  sternly,  and  asked  him  what  busi- 
ness he  had  there.  In  came  the  accused,  in  bonds 
and  piteous  plight,  while  their  Professor,  dressed  in 
mourning,  stood  beside  them.  The  counsel  for  the 
prosecution  then  began,  but  the  Magistrate  soon  cut 
him  short,  and  bade  the  accuser  state  his  case  in  his 
own  words.  But  he  stood  stammering  and  confused, 
for  he  and  his  friends  only  came  prepared  to  hiss 
and  clamour  down  the  speaker  on  the  other  side. 
As  they  kept  silence,  Julian  humbly  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  say  a  word.  '  No  one  of  you  doctors,' 
said  the  Judge,  '  shall  have  a  chance  of  letting  off 
the  speeches  you  came  primed  with,  nor  shall  any  of 
your  scholars  clap  you.  The  prosecutor  shall  open 
his  case  first,  then,  Julian,  do  you  name  any  of  your 
pupils  whom  you  like  to  plead  in  your  defence, 
and  let  him  do  his  best.'  The  accuser  was  dumb- 
founded still,  and  the  laughing-stock  of  all  the 
court.  Julian  therefore  humbly  pointed  to  his  pupil 
Proaeresius,  and  asked  to  have  him  set  free  from  his 
bonds,  engaging  that  he  at  least  should  find  his 
voice.  Proaeresius  was  brought  forward,  and  encou- 
raged by  his  master,  as  athletes  by  their  friends  on 
their  entering  the  lists.  He  prefaced  his  speech 
with  a  few  touching  words  of  complaint  at  his  own 
sorry  plight,  and  of  respectful  reference  to  his 


Student  Life.  105 

teacher,  hinting  even  that  the  Judge  was  acting 
harshly  in  letting  him  be  dealt  with  so  ignomini- 
ously  when  nothing  had  been  proved  against  him. 
The  Magistrate  bowed  his  head  to  hide  his  mingled 
feelings  of  shame  and  of  surprise,  so  skilfully  was  the 
rebuke  administered,  and  so  graceful  was  the  style. 
The  speaker  then  continued;  but  scarcely  had  he 
spoken  a  few  words,  when  the  Judge  bounded  like  a 
young  enthusiast  from  his  chair,  and  shook  his  robe 
of  State  with  loud  applause,  while  even  the  Professor 
of  the  rival  faction  forgot  his  enmity  in  admiration. 

After   this   story   it   is   curious  to  turn  to  the  Effect  of 
memoirs  of  Libanius,  and  read  his  account  of  the  of  students' 

,  ,  .  .      ,.         ,        brawls  on 

impression  made   upon   his  young  imagination  by  theimagi- 

nation  of 

such  tales  of  student  life  as  made  their  way  to  him  the  young 

Libanius. 

at  Antioch.  *  When  I  heard  of  the  fighting  in  the  j  16 
streets  of  Athens,  of  the  clubs  and  stones  and  the 
cold  steel,  of  the  wounds  given  and  received,  of  the 
prosecutions  and  defence  in  courts  of  law,  and  of  all 
the  perils  endured  by  the  young  men  for  the  honour 
of  their  teachers,  I  thought  as  highly  of  their 
courage  in  facing  danger  as  if  they  were  fighting  for 
their  fatherland.  I  prayed  to  Heaven  that  I  too 
might  one  day  signalise  myself  in  this  way,  hurrying 
to  the  Piraeus  or  to  Sunium,  to  carry  off  the  novices 
as  soon  as  they  had  landed.'  Yet  he  was  soon  dis- 
enchanted with  the  vulgar  facts,  and  thought  the 


io6     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


Yet  he 
taunts  his 
pupils  in 
later  years 
for  not 
fighting 
for  him. 


i.  203. 


Town  and 
gown  riots. 


poor  Professors  whom  he  heard  quite  unworthy  of 
such  self-devotion,  and  thanked  his  guardian  angel 
that  he  was  saved  from  all  such  risks.  But  strange 
to  say,  in  later  years,  long  after  he  had  filled  a 
public  Chair  himself,  he  could  not  help  recurring  to 
such  brawls  as  a  proof  of  the  affection  of  the  scholars 
for  their  teachers.  He  even  taunts  his  pupils  with 
the  sights  that  he  had  seen  elsewhere ;  '  wounds  on 
the  head  and  face  and  hands,  wounds  everywhere, 
sure  evidence  of  the  love  they  bore  their  tutors,  as 
great  as  for  their  parents.  But  you,5  he  adds  dis- 
dainfully, '  what  service  of  this  sort  in  my  behalf 
can  any  of  you  point  to  ?  What  risk  or  blow  encoun- 
tered, or  what  bold  word  or  look  ?  Nay,  far  from 
that,  you  run  away  to  other  teachers,  taking  your 
fees  with  you,  and  so  rob  one  Professor,  while  you 
pay  court  to  another.'  It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  a 
state  of  feeling  so  unlike  our  own,  or  to  realise  the 
possibility  of  such  complaints  made  gravely  from  a 
Professorial  Chair. 

We  light  upon  a  more  familiar  feature  when  we 
find  that  the  riots  of  the  students  were  not  always 
the  mere  contests  of  rival  factions;  even  in  those 
days  there  were  town  and  gown  disorders,  in  which, 
unlike  our  later  times,  the  gownsmen  were  most  off-en 
the  aggressors,  breaking  even  into  the  houses  of  the 
citizens,  and  maltreating  those  they  found  within. 


Student  Life.  107 

As  usually  in  ancient  cities,  the  police  force  was 
inefficient,  and  the  Governor  had  at  times  to  inter- 
fere, and  to  punish  the  offenders.  He  had  probably 
good  reason  for  thinking  that  the  teachers  were  in 
fault,  or  as  Libanius  puts  it,  '  he  chastised  the  shep- 
herds when  the  sheep  ran  wild.'  The  lecturer 
therefore  does  not  fail  to  press  good  advice  on  his  Lib.  iii.25* 
young  friends.  They  should  indeed  be  models  of 
courteous  amenity,  charming  the  unlettered  towns- 
men by  the  beauty  of  their  manners,  not  forsaking 
the  soft  dalliance  with  the  Muses  for  the  rude  logic 
Df  rough  words  and  broken  heads,  not  bandying 
abuses  with  carpenters  and  cobblers,  nor  forgetting 
all  at  once  the  sobering  influence  of  the  daily  service 
in  the  temples. 

There  was  besides  another  class  which  suffered  Attacks 

upon  the 

now  and  then  from  the  wild  frolics  of  the  wanton  pedagogues 
youth.     A  lecture  of  Libanius  brings  a  scene  before  tutors. 
our    fancy,  in  which  a   poor    pedagogue   is   tossed  m' 25  * 
in  a   blanket  by  some    students    who    resented   an 
act  of  seeming    disrespect.      A    Proctor   or    Dean 
of  later  days,  if  the   offence   were   brought   before 
him,  would  administer  rebuke  or  penalty  in  a  few 
moments.     But  we  realize  more  easily   the   wordy 
spirit  of  that  age,  when  we  find  that  the  Professor 
writes,  delivers,  publishes  a  lengthy   speech   to   his 
class  among  which  were  the   offenders,  drawing   a 


roS     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 


No  disci- 
pline or 
control 
exerted  bj 
University 
authorities 
at  Athens, 


or  by  city 
police, 


or  dele- 
gates. 


moving  picture  of  the  poor  sufferer's  fright,  his 
present  ignominy,  his  future  shame,  his  hopelessness 
of  like  employment,  together  with  the  fatal  blow 
struck  at  all  moral  discipline.  He  even  makes  a 
personal  appeal  to  their  good  feeling,  reminding 
them  how  much  his  own  credit  suffers  by  their  bad 
behaviour,  how  unwilling  parents  would  be  to 
entrust  their  sons  to  one  whose  authority  had  been 
weakened  by  such  flagrant  outrage. 

The  University  as  such  could  exert  no  form  of 
discipline ;  for  there  was  no  bond  of  union  between 
the  Masters  ;  no  power  seemingly  of  legislation  or  of 
penalty;  it  was  left  to  the  several  teachers  to  use 
such  influence  as  they  chose  or  could  enforce ;  and 
only  by  sinking  mutual  jealousies  could  they  come  to 
an  understanding  on  their  common  interest,  or  agree 
to  a  joint  course  of  action,  such  as  that  which  was 
proposed  to  check  the  vagrant  humour  of  the  stu- 
dents who  would  stray  from  one  Chair  to  another. 

The  city  on  its  side  was  afraid  to  alienate  the 
students ;  in  itself  it  was  a  petty  town,  with  decay- 
ing trade  and  dwindling  population  ;  it  lay  no  longer 
on  the  great  highway  of  policy  and  commerce,  and 
but  for  its  University  might  be  forgotten.  So  the 
young  scholars  lived  as  and  where  they  pleased. 
There  were  no  Delegates  of  lodging  houses  to  inter- 
pose between  the  citizen  and  scholar,  to  insist  that 


Student  Life.  109 

outward  decencies  should  be  observed,  and  inquiries 
into  character  be  made.  The  civil  power  only 
interfered  when  the  heavy  hand  of  law  was  needed  to 
avenge  a  flagrant  breach  of  peace. 

But  the  State  was  not  always  so  easy  going  in  Very 

different 

the  matter.     It  is  curious  to  turn  from  Athens  and  provisions 

at  Rome. 

contrast  the  edict  of  Valentinian  at  Rome.  It  ran  as 
follows: — 'All  who  come  to  Rome  to  study  must  Cod.Theod. 

xiv.  9. 

appear  at  once  before  the  public  registrar,  and 
present  their  passports  from  the  Justices  of  the  peace 
who  have  given  them  leave  to  travel,  that  thus  entry 
may  be  made  of  their  birthplace,  rank,  and  character. 
They  must  also  on  their  first  appearance  name  the 
faculty  in  which  they  wish  to  study.  The  Registry 
must  also  take  note  where  they  lodge,  and  see  if  they 
adhere  to  the  profession  they  have  chosen.  Its 
officers  must  look  to  it  that  they  all  behave  well  in 
society,  being  careful  of  their  good  name  and  of  the 
company  they  keep,  not  going  to  the  theatre  too 
often,  nor  sallying  out  to  wine  parties  at  a  late  hour 
of  the  night,  Furthermore,  if  any  one's  behaviour 
shall  have  been  discreditable  to  the  interests  of  learn- 
ing, we  hereby  give  our  Ministers  authority  to  whip 
the  offender  publicly,  and  put  him  on  shipboard  at 
once,  and  send  him  home  without  delay.  But  those 
who  work  steadily  at  their  professional  studies  may 
be  allowed  to  stay  at  Rome  till  they  have  reached 


1 10     University  Life  in  Ancient  Atliens. 

their  twentieth  year.'  Such  rigour  may  perhaps  have 
suited  the  stem  genius  of  Rome,  but  the  traditions 
of  Athenian  freedom  still  guarded  the  spirit  of  her 
studies.  If  we  pay  in  fancy  a  visit  to  the  lecture 
hall,  we  shall  carry  away  probably  a  like  impression. 
The  The  young  men  went,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the 

students  at 

lecture.  house  of  their  Professor,  attended  often  by  their 
private  tutors,  and  sometimes  by  a  servant  with  their 
books,  or  even  by  a  shorthand  writer.  The  lectures 
were  mostly  in  the  morning  hours,  as  with  ourselves, 
at  any  rate  for  ordinary  courses,  for  there  were 
some  others  later  in  the  day,  which  were  different 

Lib.  ii.  316.  in  their  character,  attended  by  men  of  riper  years, 
by  merchants,  and  even  soldiers  it  would  seem  who 
were  attracted  by  the  fence  of  words.  They  brought 
with  them  their  themes  to  be  corrected,  or  they  took 
notes  of  the  arguments  and  illustrations,  or  they 
were  catechised  on  points  of  literary  criticism,  or 
they  disputed  in  his  presence  to  train  themselves  in 
readiness  of  speech.  When  the  Professor  spoke,  they 
made  no  scruple  in  applauding,  and  the  practice 
may  surprise  us  less  when  we  remember  that  the  like 
was  done  by  the  congregations  in  the  churches  while 
listening  to  a  sermon. 

Their  But  their  behaviour  was  not  always  so  flattering  to 

behaviour 

very-  bad  at  the  teacher.  Libanius  paints  a  most  unfavourable  pic- 
times,  as 
illustrated    tui'fi  of  the  manners  of  his  pupils,  and  though  the  scene 


Student  Life.  1 1 1 

in  that  case  was  at  Antiock,  we  may  well  believe  that  by  Liba- 

nius,  i.  199. 

the  like  went  on  at  Athens.  4 1  send  my  servant  out  to 
all  my  scholars  to  summon  them  to  lecture,  and  he 
starts  off  at  a  run  to  do  my  bidding.  But  they  are  in 
no  mood,  like  him,  to  hurry,  though  they  ought  to  be 
even  more  in  haste.  They  stay  some  of  them  to  sing 
their  hymns,  which  we  have  all  heard  till  we  are 
tired,  or  else  they  amuse  themselves  with  foolish 
merriment  and  jesting.  If  their  friends  or  bystanders 
remark  on  their  delay,  and  at  last  they  make  their 
mind  up  to  be  off,  they  talk  about  their  sweethearts 
as  they  go,  or  on  the  skill  of  some  dancer  at  the  circus, 
and  they  gossip  even  when  they  get  inside,  to  the 
annoyance  of  real  students.  This  they  do  till  the 
lecture  has  begun.  And  even  when  the  subject  is 
discussed,  and  explanation  going  on,  they  keep 
whispering  to  each  other  about  the  jockeys  and  the 
races,  or  the  comedians  and  opera  dancers;  or  about 
some  scuffle  past  or  future.  Meantime  some  of  them 
stand  like  statues,  with  their  arms  folded  on  each 
other;  others  go  on  blowing  their  noses  with  both 
hands ;  others  sit  stock  still  unmoved  by  any  of  my 
strokes  of  brilliancy  or  wit.  Some  try  to  interrupt 
those  who  do  feel  stirred.  Others  vacantly  cast  up 
the  numbers  in  the  room  or  stare  at  the  trees  that 
grow  outside.  But  their  insolence  goes  even  beyond 
this.  They  like  to  hiss  when  others  clap,  or  to 


1 1 2      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

hinder  any  from  applauding,  or  to  move  about  across 
the  theatre,  distracting  the   attention  of  the  rest, 
sometimes  by  a  silly  hoax,  or  by  an  invitation  to  an 
early  bath  .  .  .  You  know  very  well  that  this  is  no 
exaggerated  grievance  .  .  .  but  that  the  like  often 
has  occurred,  and  that  I  have  often  spoken  out  about 
it,  and  given  orders  that  a  lazy  student  should  be 
taken  by  the  collar,  and  thrust  out  of  the  room  .  .  . 
I  had  a  very  different  set  of  pupils  once  .  .  .  Each 
of  them  used  to  carry  something  in  his  memory  away 
of  what  I  said,  and  then  they  would  put  their  heads 
together  and  compare  notes,  and  write  my  speech 
out  fair.     They  were  quite  distressed  if  they  lost  any 
of  the  heads,  although  that  seldom  happened.     For 
three  or  four  days  afterwards  their  chief  employment 
was  to  go  over  what  they  knew  at  home  before  their 
parents,  or  still  more  in  their  repetitions  here  ,  .  . 
But  as  for  you,  you  forget  all  about  Demosthenes, 
the  latest  comments  as  completely  as  the  first,  and 
go  on  with  your  songs  again,  which  you  know  by 
heart  already  .  .  .  you  can  only  tell  inquirers  that 
I  have  been  lecturing,  but  cannot  repeat  a  word  of 
what  was  said.     Some  one  perhaps  may  fancy  that 
the  fault  is  mine,  and  that  my  lectures  are  not  so 
good  as  they  were  once.     Such  is  not  the  account  of 
the  older  men  about  us  ;  they  say  that  they  can  hardly 
listen  to  my  speeches  quietly ;  they  protest  that  I 


Student  Life.  113 

now  surpass  myself,  that  my  lectures  were  always 
excellent,  but  that  there  is  more  in  them  now.  You 
surely  cannot  fancy  that  you  are  better  judges  than 
they  are,  though  you  do  insult  them  by  your  indiffe- 
rence to  their  excitement.' 

Libanius,  it  will  be  seen,  is  not  afraid  of  speaking 
plainly,  nor  of  sounding  his  own  trumpet.  It  may 
be  doubted  if  Professors  have  ever  scolded  their 
pupils  more  freely  than  he  did,  though  perhaps  he 
had  good  reason,  if  what  he  says  of  them  is  true  that 
they  tried  to  hinder  freshmen  from  coming  to  his 
lectures,  and  were  overjoyed  when  they  saw  their 
fellow-students  going  off  to  other  Universities. 

There  is  evidence   indeed  that  in  earlier  times  Even  in 

earlier  ages 

the  scholars  of  the  Sophists  were  often  turbulent  and  there  is  like 

evidence  of 

rude,  and  had  to  be  dealt  with  like  unruly  boys.    As  rudeness  or 

inattention. 

has  been  already  noted,  it  was  specified  as  an  unusual 
thing  that  in  the  second  century,  Proclus  kept  at 
Athens  such  strict  discipline  in  his  own  circle,  and 
would  not  let  his  pupils  hiss,  or  play  any  of  the 
pranks  which,  adds  Philostratus,  are  so  usual  in  the  pini.ii.ioe. 
classes  of  the  schoolmen. 

Philager  too  was  a  strict  martinet,  for  he  even 
struck  a  sleepy  hearer  on  the  head  when  it  was  nod- 
ding, and  once  when  on  a  visit  to  Herodes  Atticus,  iL  84> 
he  fired  up  because  he  thought  a  student  whom  he 
met  was  looking  at  him  disrespectfully,  'What  is 

I 


1  14     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

your  name  and  country,  Sir,'  he  asked,  like  a  Proctor 
of  our  times,  but  be  ended  with  a  threat  not  so 
terrible  perhaps  to  modern  ears,  '  see  that  you  do  not 
think  of  coming  to  any  of  my  lectures.'  '  And  who 
are  you,  Sir,'  was  the  answer,  which  made  the  Sophist 
still  more  angry,  as  he  thought  that  all  the  world 
must  know  him.  Some  local  vulgarism  escaped 
him  in  his  passion,  which  the  student  gravely  noted, 
asking  what  good  author  he  could  find  it  in.  Phi- 
lager,  wounded  in  his  self-respect,  sent  an  indignant 
letter  to  Herodes,  to  complain  of  the  unseemly  con- 
duct of  his  pupils,  who  revenged  themselves,  however, 
on  the  hot-tempered  stranger  by  hissing  him  off  the 
scene  at  his  first  lecture,  and  afterwards  exposing 
him  for  passing  off  some  old  speech  known  by  heart 
as  an  extempore  harangue. 
Question  Many  of  the  students  were  mere  lads,  away  from 

among  the 

Sophists  as    an  control  of  parents,  and  such  discipline  as  could 

to  the  use 

of  the  rod.  ^  enforced  among  them  could  only  come  from  the 
Professors.  It  was  a  disputed  question  seemingly 
among  them  whether  they  should  rely  on  the  influence 
of  fear  or  love.  Himerius,  the  last  of  the  great 
holders  of  the  Chair  of  Rhetoric  at  Athens,  would 
only  hear  of  the-  attractiveness  of  gentle  words.  He 


love.  begins  indeed  on  one  occasion  to  rebuke  plaintively 

xv.  i  2. 

the  idle  scholars  who  woul(J  not  come  and  hear  him, 
as  foolish  and  ungrateful  to  the  Master  who  treated 
them  so  fondly.  '  Fain  would  I  question  them  and 


Student  Life.  \  15 

say,  what  voice  can  chaim  your  ears  like  mine,  what 
gestures  be  so  winning  in  your  eyes,  what  birds  of 
spring  can  sing  so  pleasantly  as  I  do,  what  choral 
harmony,  what  blended  sound  of  flute  and  pipes  can 
touch  your  souls  like  the  simple  accents  of  this  Chair. 
I  detest  those,  guardians  of  youth  who  cannot  lead 
their  flock,  like  shepherds,  by  the  music  of  their  pipe, 
but  threaten  them  with  blows  and  whippings.  My 
sheep,  my  nurslings  —  may  I  never  scare  them  with  a 
frown  —  are  to  be  guided  by  my  eloquence  to  the 
groves  and  meadows  of  the  Muses.  To  lead  them  I 
require  no  rod,  but  only  melody.  Music  strengthens 
our  mutual  affection,  and  harmony  gives  the  tone  to 
my  authority.'  Such  language,  even  from  the  Chair 
of  Pastoral  Theology,  might  be  scarcely  thought  ap- 
propriate in  these  prosaic  days. 

Libanius  did  not  rely  so  much  on  the  persuasive  Libanius 
power  of  love,  and  used  the  rod  at  times,  we  read,  to  rod, 
say  nothing  of  the  hard  words  with  which  he  freely 
pelted  his  refractory  young  pupils.     Yet  he  speaks 
of  himself  in  the  same  lecture  as  by  far  too  tender 
hearted,  as  naturally  prone  to  be  patient  rather  than 
to  punish.     And  so  he  shrinks  from  the  final  penalty 
of  expulsion.     '  I  have  friendly  relations  with  their 


parents,  and  the  cities  of  their  birth.     I  fear  that  if  K  207 
they  hear  their  sons  have  been  expelled,  they  will 
grieve  as  for  their  death,  or  even  more,  thinking  such 

i  2 


1 1 6     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

ignominy  even  worse  than  death,  knowing  that  the 
stigma  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  sentence  of  a 
court  of  law.  The  latter  indeed  may  be  reversed, 
but  the  former  can  never  be  effaced.  It  will  cling 
to  them  from  youth  to  age,  for  they  may  at  any 
moment  be  silenced  with  the  taunt,  Shameless 
reprobate,  were  you  not  thrust  out  of  the  Holy  Place 
of  Learning,  as  defiling  the  temple  of  the  Muses?' 
There  was  something  more  than  inattention  to 
complain  of  often.  They  did  not  always  pay  their 
teacner's  fees>  even  when  the  money  was  sent  them  by 
their  parents  for  the  purpose.  They  pressed  no  longer. 

Lib.  i.  2.19.  as  in  olden  times,  to  lay  their  fees  at  the  Professor's 
feet  before  his  chair,  when  the  calends  of  January 
came  round,  while  the  private  tutors  also  came  with 
the  free  will  offerings,  which  showed  their  love.  We 

i- 197.  may  hear  Libanius  again  upon  this  point.  6  It  is 
enough  to  enrage  a  lecturer  or  make  him  give  up 
teaching  altogether,  when  the  money  forwarded  by 
the  father  for  himself  is  spent  on  wine-parties,  or 
gambling,  or  immoralities  still  worse,  and  in  defiance 
of  the  law.'  For  himself,  he  adds,  it  is  no  new  thing 
for  him  never  to  be  paid,  and  he  is  too  much  used  to 
that  to  close  his  lecture  rooms  in  pique,  though  per- 
haps it  is  no  kindness  to  be  so  lenient,  and  they  who 
do  not  pay  suffer  in  the  end,  as  much  as  the  Pro- 
fessors who  are  defrauded  of  their  fees. 

Certainly  to  the  honour  of  the  teachers  of  that  ag  e 


Student  Life.  117 

be  it  said  that  they  had  too  much  enthusiastic  love  The 

Professors 

of  their  profession  to  think  mainly  of  its  money  value,  were  often 

ready  to 

Eumenius  had  felt  so  keenly  the  fatal  blow  to  learning  forego  their 

3    dues. 

when  the  schools  of  (Autun)  Augustodunum  were 
closed  because  of  the  ravages  of  war,  that  he  was  ready 
to  forego  the  salary  which  the  favour  of  Constantius 
allotted  him,  if  it  might  be  spent  on  necessary  build- 
ings for  the  ruined  University.  The  speeches  of  the 
later  schoolmen  show  that  they  were  generous  enough 
ia  remitting  fees  when  it  was  needful,  and  helping 
the  poorer  students  to  get  on.  Themistius  indeed 
was  so  liberal  to  the  more  indigent  among  his 
scholars,  that  some  malicious  gossips  said  he  paid 
them  to  come  and  swell  his  class.  '  I  find,1  he 
answers,  4  recompense  enough  for  what  I  do  in  their 
sense  of  honour,  in  their  orderly  and  modest  ways,  in 
seeing  that  they  are  neither  awkward,  nor  silly,  nor 
ungrateful  .  .  .  None  of  them  follows  me  about  as 
if  he  were  my  servant,  nor  walks  beside  me  clinging 
to  my  gown,  though  it  is  the  practice  of  the  Sophists 
to  reap  such  harvests  from  their  trade.  So  far  indeed 
am  I  from  getting  any  gain  out  of  my  class,  that 
even  those  who  call  me  Sophist  do  not  dare  to  add 
that  taunt,  but  on  the  contrary  they  say  that  I  put 
up  with  loss,  and  give  them  food  and  money  to  stay 
with  me,  and  to  keep  the  flock  together  .  .  .  Some, 
they  say,  get  a  mina,  others  two,  others  as  much  even 


1 1 8     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

as  a  talent  .  .  .  Well,  what  of  that  ?  It  seems  to  me 
more  liberal  and  high-minded  to  spend  my  means 
upon  my  hearers,  if  they  are  in  want,  than  to  harry 
and  torment  them,  or  put  my  hand  upon  their 
throats  to  force  the  money  from  them,  when  they 
cannot  pay.' 

Many  of  Many  of  the  students  seemingly  were  poor.     Pro- 

students       seresius,  the  most  famous  scholar  of  the   age,  had 

were  very 

P°or-  been  so  poor  in  earlier  years,  that  stories  were  re- 

Prwer!  peated  of  his  student  life,  to  put  his  poverty  in 
telling  forms  before  the  fancy.  He  and  a  fellow- 
student  named  Hephaestion,  it  was  rumoured,  only 
had  one  coat  between  them,  and  a  few  old  dirty 
blankets.  Only  one  therefore  at  the  time  could  walk 
abroad,  or  go  to  lecture ;  meantime  the  other 
wrapped  the  bedclothes  round  him,  and  did  his 
exercises  as  he  could,  till  his  turn  came  to  wear  the 
coat.  Others  like  Eunapius  gave  private  lessons  to 
younger  or  less  forward  scholars,  and  so  managed  to 
pay  their  way  and  keep  themselves  in  independence. 
Sometimes  the  richer  citizens  took  pity  on  the  poor 
students,  who  were  living  or  starving  near  their 
doors,  and  the  teachers  now  and  then  wrote  letters  in 
{^5  Ep'  such  cases  to  appeal  to  the  compassion  of  their 
wealthier  neighbours,  or  to  thank  them  for  their 
liberal  aid.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  of  any 
systematic  way  of  helping  youths  of  slender  means. 


Student  Life.  119 

There    were   no   scholarship  or  exhibitions  such  as  And  there 

were  no 

those  of  later  times.     Such  endowments  as  existed,  exhibitions 

for  them. 

were  confined  entirely  to  the  Professors,  and  the 
claims  of  studious  poverty  were  quite  ignored. 

But  at  whatever  sacrifice  of  means  or  comfort  still  They  often 

remained 

they  stayed  on,  and   often   found   it   hard   to   tear  long  at  the 

University, 

themselves  away.     Eunapius  remained  for  a  period  and  left 

with  regret. 

of  five  years,  poor  as  he  was ;  Gregory  was  there  at 
least  for  ten.  The  ambitious  hoped  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  teachers,  setting  up  first  as  lecturers  and 
afterwards  aspiring  to  a  Public  Chair.  Others,  who 
had  no  such  hopes  or  plans,  and  felt  no  spur  of 
poverty,  loved  so  well  the  Classic  memories  of  the 
venerable  city,  and  it  may  be  also  the  freedom  from 
official  meddlers,  that  they  lingered  on  in  the  old 
halls  and  only  left  them  with  regret.  '  At  length,'  Greg.  Naz. 
says  Gregory,  '  the  fatal  clay  was  come,  and  with  it  all  Basil, 
the  troubles  of  departure  ;  the  last  words  of  farewell, 
the  last  good  wishes,  the  repeated  leave-takings,  the 
sighs,  the  tears,  and  the  embracings.  Nothing  is  so 
harrowing  and  so  painful  as  for  those  who  have  been 
follow-students  to  part  at  last  from  Athens  and  each 
other.  Our  friends  and  compeers  were  all  around  us, 
some  there  were  even  of  our  tutors,  protesting  that 
they  could  not  let  us  go,  beseeching  and  imploring 
us  to  stay,  and  showing  in  everything  they  did  or 
said,  the  evidence  of  genuine  sorrow.' 


120 


CHAPTEK  V. 


The  early 

Sophists 

were  free- 
thinker*. 


The  later 


religion. 


CHRISTIAN   INFLUENCES  ON   THE  SCHOOLS   OF   ATHENS. 

Tire  early  Sophists  were  the  free-thinkers  of  old 
Greece.  They  startled  the  world  with  revolutionary 
maxims  ;  they  undermined  the  faith  in  the  moral 
standards  and  the  local  institutions  of  each  country, 
by  appealing  to  a  wider  experience  or  conclusions 
drawn  from  varied  data.  They  were  the  Encyclo- 
paedists of  their  age,  the  Apostles  of  enlightenment 
who  set  aside  authority  and  advanced  the  claims  of 
reason.  The  schoolmen  and  rhetoricians,  who  bore 
in  a  later  age  the  name  of  Sophists,  clung  to  the  old 
faith,  walked  in  the  old  paths,  and  spoke  with  un- 
questioning  reverence  of  the  Classic  and  the  Ancient. 
The  poetry,  the  art,  the  drama,  and  the  history  of 
Greece  were  linked  so  closely  to  the  associations  of 
religion,  the  fibres  of  Paganism  had  so  intertwined 
themselves  round  all  that  they  held  dear,  that  when 
the  final  struggle  came  at  last,  they  rallied  as  volun- 
teers in  a  forlorn  hope,  for  the  defence  of  the 
Hellenic  creed,  whose  theologians  had  been  Hesiod 


Christian  Influences  on  Schools  of  Athens.   1 2 1 

and  Homer.     '  For,'  says  Libanius, '  religion  and  cul-  iif.  43 
ture  are  close  friends,  or  even  near  of  kin,  both  for 
Philosophers  and  Sophists,  and  for  all  who  are  initi- 
ated into  the  rites  of  Hermes  and  the  Muses.' 

Some  things  there  were  perhaps  in  the  old  poems^ 
which,  written  as  they  had  been  for  a  people's  child- 
hood, were    scarcely   suited   for   robuster   thought ; 
passages  too  gross  and  sensual  not  to  shock  at  times  a 
reverent  fancy ;  but  there  were  canons  of  interpreta- 
tion ready,  which  found  an  allegory  in  each  romance, 
resolved  persons  and  places  into  mere  abstractions,  and 
shifted  the  reasoner  at  will  into  the  realms  of  trans- 
cendental dreamland.     The  philosophers  took  kindly  as  were 
to  these  principles  of  Hermeneutic,  and  on  the  basis  sophers  of 
of  this  new  concordat   enrolled   themselves   in   the  Kunap. 
service  of  Religion,  and  were  of  all  men  most  devout.  Chrysan« 
Thus  one  of  whom  Eunapius  tells  us  was  a  High 
Priest  of  Lydia,  another  lived  in  the  temples  to  a 
great  old  age,  and  others  are  spoken  of  as  busy  with 
sacrifice  and  divination,  and  as  staunch  defenders  of 
the  faith. 

So   familiar    were   they  with  the    unseen    and  who  often 

claimed 

supernatural,   that    they   often    claimed    and   were  mysterious 

powers  over 

believed  to  have  a  mysterious  hold  upon  the  spirit  the  sPirit 
world,  and  the  writer  just  referred  to  tells  us  strange 
tales  of  power  to  foresee  the  far-off  both  in  time  and 
space,  and  to  make  unearthly  beings  answer  to  their 


122      University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 
The  call.     It  is  no  wonder  if  the  Christians  took  them  at 

Christians 

took  them     their  word,  and  believed  that  they  were  leagued  with 

at  their 

word  and      powers     of   darkness ;    their    religion    seemed   but 

tried  to  put    r 

them  down.  an  unclean  demon-worship,  its  ritual  only  sorcery  or 
magic.  And  so  the  cry  grew  louder  to  sweep  away 
the  accursed  thing,  and  Christian  Emperors  soon 
began  to  discourage  if  not  to  suppress  the  older  faith. 

Eunap.        Thus  Eunapius  thinks   that  possibly  ^Edesius  con- 

Edes. 

cealed  his  gift  of  inspiration,  because  of  the  hard 
times.  'For  Constantine  then  reigned,  who  threw 
down  the  most  famous  temples,  and  raised  Christian 
Churches  in  their  stead.  Whence  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  wisest  philosophers  took  refuge  in  mysterious 
silence  and  reserve  becoming  to  their  priestly  office. 
So  much  so  that  the  writer  of  these  lives,  though 
a  pupil  of  Chrysanthius,  was  scarce  thought  worthy 
of  admission  to  the  truth  until  his  twentieth  year,  so 
hard  a  matter  was  it  for  the  doctrines  of  lamblichus 
to  be  introduced  and  gradually  spread  among  us,  for 
after  he  was  taken  from  us  the  men  of  note  were 
scattered  here  and  there,  and  none  were  left  of  any 
worth  or  reputation.' 

The  dis-  The  same  discouragement  was  felt  ere  long,  though 

extended      to  a  less  extent  perhaps,  by  the  schools  of  rhetoric  and 
phiioso-        the  Sophists.  Christians  still  flocked  indeed  to  Athens, 

pliers  to  the 

schools  of     where   the   Pagan  sentiment  was  intensely  strong, 

rhetoric. 

and   where   all  the   greater  schoolmen  known,  save 


Christian  Influences  on  Schools  of  A  thens.   \  2  3 

Proseresius,  still  clung  to  the  older  faith  of  Hellas. 
But  the  language  of  Gregory  implies  that  the  feel- 
ings of  fear  and  antipathy  were  strong  in  pious 
minds,  for  men,  he  says  'are  more  prone  there  to  idol 
worship  than  in  all  the  rest  of  Greece,  and  it  is  not  Basil 
easy  to  avoid  being  carried  into  error  in  the  company 
of  those  who  are  its  champions  and  panegyrists.' 
He  is  thankful  that  he  did  not  suffer  from  these 
spiritual  dangers,  which  were  fatal,  as  he  owns,  to 
others ;  but  his  friend  Basil  found  the  spirit  of  the 
place  so  uncongenial,  that  he  was  not  easily  induced 
to  stay  where  there  was  much  that  seemed  to  him 
so  vain  and  worldly. 

Yet  before  long  Libanius  complained  that  the  The  com- 
plaints of 
Imperial  Court  looked  with  an  evil  eye  upon   the  Libaniusof 

the  dis- 

Schools,  and  that  the  malign  influence  was  spreading  courage 

'    mentfeltby 

fast.  An  enemy  had  taunted  him  with  his  failure  as  students. 
a  teacher,  and  asked  how  many  of  his  scholars  had 
risen  in  the  world.  In  his  reply  the  orator  dilates 
upon  the  unfriendly  bearing  of  the  Christian  rulers. 
Constantius  never  summoned  them  to  Court,  or  said 
a  kindly  word,  or  heard  them  lecture  ;  but  allowed  a 
wretched  set  of  barbarous  eunuchs  to  govern  in  his 
name,  and  they  conspired  to  drive  away  the  men  of 
education,  and  promote  the  enemies  of  heaven  and 
starveling  upstarts  to  the  posts  of  honour.  The 
students  naturally  asked,  what  is  the  use.  of  all  our 


1 24     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

reacting  if  it  will  not  raise  us  in  the  world.  Parents 
preferred  to  put  their  sons  to  Law,  and  sent  them 
to  the  University  of  Berytus,  as  literary  skill  was 
prized  so  little.  Even  after  spending  years  among 
the  Schools  of  Athens,  where  philosophy  and  rhetoric 
had  engaged  their  thoughts,  men  were  glad  to  take  a 
place  as  Emperor's  messenger,  or  to  wear  the  livery 
of  his  household  servants.  If  such  discouragements 
were  felt  at  Athens,  still  more  were  they  to  be  feared 
in  places  near  the  Court,  where  all  its  sympathies 
Brighter  were  fully  known.  He  owns  indeed  that  a  transient 

times  came 

in  with       gleam    of  sunshine   rested   on   the   fortunes   of  the 

Julian's 

accession      Schools  when  they  enjoyed  a  period  of  Eoyal  favour. 

throne.  Julian,  the  so-called  Apostate,  had  wearied  early 

of  his  pious  exercises  with  the  Christian  priests, 
and  pored  by  stealth  over  the  lectures  of  Libanius. 
Allowed  at  length  to  come  to  Athens,  he  drank 
deeply  at  the  sources  of  the  old  Hellenic  culture,  and 
long  before  he  dropped  the  mask,  had  lost,  if  indeed 
he  ever  had,  affection  for  the  faith  which  was  full  to 
his  mind  of  memories  of  controversial  quibbles  and 
of  harsh  constraint.  One  of  his  first  acts  when  he 
claimed  the  sovereign  power  was  to  send  his  manifesto 
to  the  old  seat  of  learning,  to  show  that  he  was  not  a 
vulgar  adventurer  prompted  by  ambition,  but  a 
scholar  who  could  do  justice  to  the  goodness  of  his 
cause,  and  deserve  the  sympathy  of  the  world  of 
letters. 


Christian  Influences  on  Schools  of  A  thens.   125 

The  Sages  and  tlie  Sophists  gladly  welcomed  the  Lib.  Hi. 
young  prince,  whose  sumpter  mules  were  laden,  not 
with  costly  furniture  and  viands,  but  with  a  pre- 
cious freight  of  books.  They  hailed  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era  when  philosophy  had  once  more  mounted  on  the 
throne,  and  another  Antonine  was  ready  with  en- 
lightened patronage  of  men  of  worth.  The  new 
ruler  was  not  slow  to  do  his  part.  Libanius,  whom 
he  so  much  admired  in  earlier  years,  was  treated  by  who  showed 

J    special 

him  with  a  cordial  respect :  honours  were  showered  on  favour  to 

the 

the  graver  thinkers,   the  theologians  of  the  philo-  Sophists, 
sophic  creed  which  he  espoused ;  the  greatest  of  them, 
whom  Eunapius  mentions,  were  invited  to  his  Court, 
and  kept  ever  in   his  company  to  while  away  the 
tedium  of  the  Persian  campaign. 

Prompted  or  encouraged  by  their  councils,   he  but  denied 
forgot  his  usual  toleration,  and  denied  the  Christians  leave  to 

teach  in  the 

leave  to  teach  in  the  schools  of  rhetoric  and  liberal  schools, 
study,  affecting  to  regard  them  as  mere  ignorant  fana- 
tics, sworn  foes  of  all  the  older  culture,  iconoclasts 
in  arts  and  letters.  One  only  of  the  Athenian  Pro- 
fessors, the  celebrated  Proaeresius,  was  exempted 
from  this  penal  clause,  but  he  was  too  generous  to 
stand  alone,  and  though  he  probably  had  little  in  him 
of  the  martyr's  stuff,  forbore  to  lecture  when  his 
friends  were  silenced. 

For  a  few  short  months  the  schoolmen's  pent-up 


1 26     University  Life  in  Ancient  At  fans. 
The  bitterness  found  vent,  and  they  triumphed  as  if  their 

triumph 

of  the          rivals'  downfall  were  complete.     But  wiser  eyes  had 

Sophists 

was  short-    seen   already   that   the   adverse   currents   were   too 

lived, 

strong,  and  the  reaction  could  not  last.  Thus  Chry- 
santhius  of  Lydia,  when  sent  for  to  the  Court,  whether 
warned  by  mysterious  portents,  as  Eunapius  believed, 
or  possibly  by  natural  insight,  declined  all  the 
brilliant  offers  made  by  Julian,  answering  like 
Balaam,  that  his  (rod  refused  him  leave  to  come. 
Eunap.  <  Thereupon  the  Emperor  wrote  to  him  again,  and 
as  the  wiser  sent  letters  not  to  himself  only,  but  to  his  wife,  that 
foresaw.  haply  she  might  influence  her  husband.  A  second 
time  Chrysanthius  had  recourse  to  divination,  but 
again  no  favouring  signs  appeared.  This  happened 
several  times,  for  still  the  Emperor  was  earnest  in 
his  wish  to  see  him.'  He  read  the  future  clearly, 
though  he  could  not  have  foreseen  that  Julian's  death 
was  sadly  near,  and  with  it  the  funeral  knell  of  the 
last  hopes  of  Pagan  Greece. 

Athens  found  ere  long  that  the  privilege  of  Im- 
The  death     perial  favour  had  been  a  source  of  weakness  rather 

of  Julian 

was  than  of  strength.     It  had  made  men  feel  how  intensely 

followed  by 

edicts          auti-christian  was  the  spirit  of  her  schools,  and  how 

against 

Paganism,  great  was  the  possible  danger  of  a  like  revival.  First 
came  the  legal  prohibition,  in  the  name  of  Valens, 
against  any  magic  sacrifice  or  rites,  and  terms  so 
vague  and  so  elastic  might  be  stretched  to  cover  any 


Christian  Influences  on  Schools  of  Athens.   127 

of  the  forms  of  divination,  any  of  the  mysteries  of 
theurgy,  in  which  the  later  systems  of  philosophy 
abounded.  Two  of  the  favourites  of  Julian  suffered  Prisons 

Maxim  us. 

probably  on  this  account,  though  Eunapius  tells  us 
only  of  their  imprisonment  and  pains,  and  is  silent  as 
to  the  exact  nature  of  the  charges.  Others  withdrew 
themselves  from  public  sight,  and,  in  the  words  of 
their  biographer,  'grieved  themselves  to  early  death.' 
They  might  save  themselves  from  actual  danger, 
but  they  could  not  screen  from  desecration  all  that 
they  held  dear.  Bands  of  rioters  broke  loose,  en-  and  riotous 

movements 

couraged  by  their  spiritual  heads,  while  the  civil  against  the 
power  quietly  stood  by  and  made  no  sign.  The 
temples  were  destroyed,  the  shrines  defiled.  How 
sorely  the  blow  was  felt  by  pious  minds  we  may  gather 
from  the  language  of  Eunapius,  when  he  speaks  of 
the  governors  of  Egypt  who  levelled  the  great  temple 
of  Serapis  to  the  ground,  and  carried  all  away  save 
the  foundations,  which  were  too  massive  for  them  to 
remove.  '  Thus  these  warlike  and  courageous  cham-  Eunap. 

^Edes. 
pions,  after  causing  general  ruin,  and  stretching  forth 

their  hands,  not  stained  with  blood  indeed,  but 
befouled  with  avarice,  boasted  that  they  had  overcome  Th©  bitter 

resentment 

the  Gods,  and  taking  credit  for  their  impiety  and  ofEunapius 
sacrilege,  let  loose  against  the  holy  places  the  so- 
called   monks,  who  were   men   indeed   in   outward 
shape,  but  of  swinish  life  and  manners,  who  openly 


128     University  Life  in  Ancient  AtJiens. 

committed  abominations  without  number.  They 
thought  it  an  act  of  piety  to  spurn  reverence  for  the 
Divine.  For  anyone  who  liked  to  put  a  black  coat 
upon  his  back,  and  a  sour  look  upon  his  face,  could 
lord  it  like  a  tyrant.  ...  So  they  settled  these 
monks  about  Canopus,  and  degraded  men  to  worship 
slaves  and  reprobates  instead  of  the  Gods  of  a  rea- 
sonable service.  For  they  gathered  up  the  heads  of 
those  who  had  been  put  to  death  as  malefactors  for 
their  many  crimes,  and  pointed  to  them  as  their 
Gods,  and  rolled  themselves  in  the  dirt  beside  their 
tombs.  At  least  they  called  them  martyrs,  and 
ministers  or  ambassadors  in  their  prayers  to  Heaven, 
though  they  were  but  sorry  slaves  and  whipping- 
stocks,  who  carried  on  their  bodies  the  scars  of  blows 
which  they  had  richly  merited.' 
and  Libanius  also,  in  another  country,  vents  his  in- 

Libanius. 

ii.  164.  dignation  in  no  measured  terms.  'This  black- 
coated  gentry,  who  are  more  ravenous  than  elephants, 
and  drink  so  often  as  to  weary  out  the  patience  of  the 
congregations  who  have  to  chaunt  meantime  at  every 
draught,  though  they  disguise  their  habits  by  the 
artificial  pallor  of  their  faces — these  in  defiance  of 
existing  laws  hurry  to  attack  the  temples,  some  with 
staves  and  stones  and  steel,  others  even  with  fisti- 
cuffs and  kicks.  They  fall  an  easy  prey,  the  roofs 
are  stripped,  the  walls  hurled  down,  the  statues 


Christian  Influences  on  Schools  of  A  thens    129 

dragged  away,  the  altars  overthrown.  The  priests 
must  hold  their  peace  or  die.  When  one  is  ruined 
they  hurry  to  a  second  or  a  third,  and  pile  fresh 
trophies  in  defiance  of  the  law.  Such  acts  of  daring 
occur  even  in  the  cities,  but  far  more  in  the  country. 
...  So  they  sweep  like  winter-torrents  through  the 
land,  making  havoc  of  it  for  the  temples'  sake.'  He 
goes  on  to  describe  the  consternation  of  the  country 
folks,  robbed  of  the  objects  of  their  reverence,  and 
of  all  their  hopes  of  divine  favour  and  protection. 
'If  the  poor  wretches  thus  despoiled  betake  them- 
selves with  their  complaints  to  the  pastor  in  the 
city, — for  pastor  they  call  some  worthless  guide,— he 
only  praises  the  ill-doers,  and  drives  away  the  sufferers 
with  the  taunt  that  they  are  lucky  in  not  having  been 
treated  even  worse.  .  .  .  Yet  they  are  the  working 
bees  who  suffer,  while  the  others  are  the  drones.' 

These  blows  were  fatal,  not  to  the  temples  only,  Th« 
but  also  to  the  schools  of  Athens,  which  were  linked  Athens 
so  closely  to  the  associations  of  religion.     Two  other  from  the 

downfall  of 

influences   also   largely   tended    to    complete   their  Paganism, 

as  also 

downfall.      One  was   the   ascendancy   which    legal  from  the 

greater 

studies  now  were  gaining,  and  the  consequent  at-  popularity 
traction  of  the  Universities  of  Eome  and  Berytus,  in  Latin 

studies. 

which  they  mainly  flourished.  Libanius  often  vents 
his  spleen  at  such  unbecoming  rivalry.  'In  old 
days,'  he  says, '  the  experts  in  the  law  stood  in  court 

K 


130     University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

Lib.  1 186.  humbly  looking  to  the  orator,  and  waiting  till  he 
said  "  read  the  clauses  for  me ; "  now  even  the  scri- 
veners fill  the  highest  posts.'  Still  more  potent 
was  the  change  of  fashion  by  which  the  Roman 
tongue  and  Roman  letters  were  brought  once  more 
into  special  favour.  Even  the  influence  of  the  court 
at  Constantinople  was  used  in  that  direction,  and 
Latin  was  still  the  language  of  the  ruling  powers. 
Lib.  i.  us.  The  same  writer  tells  us  of  his  fears  that'  his  fa- 
vourite studies  would  be  soon  suppressed  by  law ; 
and  though  this  indeed  was  not  the  case,  yet  they 
had  been  effectually  degraded  by  the  prizes  and 
encouragements  awarded  to  their  rival.  Soon  the 
Greek  Church,  which  he  thought  his  most  formid- 
able foe,  would  have  to  gather  what  was  falling  from 
the  Sophists'  hands,  and  preserve  the  heritage  of  the 
old  Hellenic  culture. 

The  old  The  complaints  become  more  numerous  as  time 

attracted      goes  on ;  the  schools  of  rhetoric  are  fast  declining, 
,  as  and  the  schoolmen's  trade  is  nearly  gone.     For  a  few 


"vnesms 


tells  us ;  years,  in  the  case  of  Athens,  the  '  magni  nominis 
umbra '  powerfully  affects  the  imagination  of  the 
learned,  and  towards  the  close  even  of  the  fourth 
century  Synesius  satirically  notes  the  airs  assumed 
by  those  who  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  old  city* 
4  They  are  only  mortals  after  all,  and  like  ourselves ; 
they  do  not  understand  Plato  or  Aristotle  better  than 


Christian  Influences  on  Softools  of  Athens.  \  3 1 

we  do,  yet  they  think  of  themselves  as  demigods 
among  a  set  of  mules,  so  proud  are  they  of  having 
looked  on  the  Academy  and  Lyceum,  and  the  Porch 
where  Zenon  reasoned.'  He  came,  indeed,  himself  to  Ep.  136. 
Athens,  but  only  to  be  more  convinced  that  such  a 
pilgrimage  was  idle  folly.  *  There  is  nothing  here  but  he 

speaks  with 

of  note,'  he  wrote,  'except  the  local  names  which  are  contempt  of 

the  studies 

renowned.     As  the  skin  of  the  beast  that  has  been  carried  on 

there. 

killed  and  eaten  is  the  sign  of  its  past  life,  so  now 
that  philosophy  is  dead  and  gone  there  is  nothing 
left  for  me  but  to  roam  about  and  gaze  with  curious 
eyes  on  the  Academy,  the  Lyceum,  and  the  painted 
Porch,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  system  of  Chry- 
sippus,  but  which  is  no  more  painted,  now  that  the 
Governor  has  carried  off  the  pictures,  in  which  the 
Thasian  Polygnotus  stored  his  art.  In  our  own  days 
Egypt  fosters  the  germs  of  life,  which  she  has  ga- 
thered from  Hypatia.  Athens  was  once  the  home 
of  sages;  now-a-days  its  only  credit  comes  from 
the  keepers  of  its  beehives.  So  is  it  with  the  learned 
pair  of  Plutarch's  school,  who  win  their  youthful 
hearers,  not  by  the  reputation  of  their  lectures,  but 
by  the  attractions  of  the  wine-jars  of  Hymettus.' 

Yet  to  the  fancy  of  the  pious  Pagans  the  powers  To  pious 
of  Heaven  still  watched  with  favouring  care  over  the  still  seemed 

to  watch 

old  city  which  had  worshipped  them  so  fondly  and  so  over  the 
long.     In  the  earthquake  which  shook  all  Greece,  in 

x  2 


132    University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

the  reign  of  Valens,  Athens  alone  escaped  by  special 

grace,  if  Zosimus  be  trusted.     A  still  more  marked 

deliverance  is  recorded  by  the  same  historian,  when 

Alaric  led  his  northmen  to  the  south,  and  swept  over 

Aianc         the  undefended  country.     He  made  his  way  through 

her,  the  narrow  passage  of  Thermopylae,  betrayed  to  him 

Maximi       ky  the  governor  Gerontius,  or,  as  Eunapius  will  have 

it,  by  the  monks,  and  appeared  before  the  walls  of 

Athens,  which  were  likely  to  fall  an  easy  prey.     But 

Providence   then   stayed    his    hand   by   marvellous 

portents.      He   saw    Athena,   the   tutelary   goddess, 

walking  in  armour  on  the  walls,  as  if  ready  to  beat 

off  assailants.     6  He  saw  Achilles  in  heroic  posture, 

as  Homer  showed  him  to  the  Trojans  when  he  fought 

against  them  so  furiously  to  avenge  the  slaughter  of 

Zosimus  v.    Patroclus.'     So  Alaric  forbore  to  press  the  siege,  and 

6. 

offered  favourable  terms ;  and,  thanks  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  gods,  Athens  escaped  almost  unscathed. 
Her  schools  However  that  might  be,  we  hear  no  more  of  schools 

of  rhetoric 

disap-          of  rhetoric  and  Sophists  at  the  ancient  University ; 

peared, 

the  studious  youth  repaired  to  it  no  longer,  though 

.a  few  philosophers,  driven  perhaps  from  Alexandria 

ami  only  a    bv  religfious   riots,  sought   for   awhile   a   haven  of 

few  Neopla-      J 

tonic  phiio-  refuge  in  the  quiet  scenes  that  once  were  thronged 

eophers 

remained      with  strangers. 

there; 

They  were  members  of  that  school  of  Plutarch 
which  Synesius  spoke  of  mockingly,  though,  Christian 


Christian  Influence  on  Schools  on  A  thens.   133 

as  he  was,  he  had  much  in  common  with  the  Neopla- 
tonic  speculations.  The  last  survivor  of  the  systems, 
which,  born  of  the  Socratic  thought,  had  gone  out  into 
the  world  to  seek  their  fortunes,  it  made  its  way  back 
to  the  old  home  to  die.  It  lingered  on  a  century  or 
more  with  few  adherents,  and  with  little  stir,  devot- 
ing all  its  industry  and  erudition  to  the  effort  to  har- 
monise the  leading  principles  of  the  great  historic 
systems',  and  reconcile  the  claims  of  faith  and  reason 
in  a  vast  scheme  of  theosophy  to  which  Greece  supplied 
the  method,  while  the  inspiration  was  borrowed  from 
the  East. 

At  last  came  the  fatal  edict  of  Justinian,  which  Till  the 

edict  of 

forbade  anyone  to  teach  philosophy,  or  expound  the  Justinian 

J  led  to  their 

law,  at  Athens.  departure. 

Nor  was  this  all.  Procopius,  a  contemporary 
writer,  speaks  of  the  sweeping  measure  by  which  the 
Emperor  withheld  all  the  grants  of  public  money 
made  by  former  rulers  to  the  interests  of  learning, 
and  goes  on  to  accuse  him  even  of  confiscating  all  the 
endowments  for  like  objects,  due  to  the  liberality  of 
private  citizens  in  view  of  the  common  weal.  This 
probably  included  in  its  range  the  little  revenues  of 
the  Socratic  schools,  which  were  at  once  reduced  to 
poverty  and  silence. 

'  So  seven  sages,'  as  Agathias  tells  us,  J  the  flower  „.  30. 
of  the  philosophy  of  those  times,  abandoned  at  once 


1  34    University  Life  in  Ancient  Athens. 

the  Roman  world,  where,  by  reason  of  the  recent 

edicts,  they  could  no  longer  enjoy  their  civil  free- 

dom save  by  compliance  with  the  established  faith. 

They  be-      They  resolved   to   live   under   the   rule  of  Persia, 

selves  to*"    which   they  thought,   like   others  of  their  day,  to 

be  a  Platonic  union  of  philosophy  and  kingly  power, 

while  the  people  were  temperate  and  just.     But  they 

but  only  to  found  things  far  other  than  they  hoped.     There  were 

ue  cusa-  9         ••• 


^e  °^  familiar  vices,  or  even  worse,  in  common  life  : 
arrogance  among  the  nobles  ;  and  in  the  Monarch 
Chosroes,  notwithstanding  some  slight  hankering  for 
philosophy,  a  total  want  of  higher  culture,  and  a 
bigoted  adherence  to  the  national  customs.  They 
soon  became  home-sick  again,  though  Chosroes  liked 
them  and  much  wished  them  to  remain/ 

They  gained  at  least  something  by  their  visit, 
for  in  the  treaty  made  between  the  Persian  and  the 
Roman  empires  favourable  terms  were  introduced  to 
enable  such  of  the  philosophers  as  chose  to  return  in 
safety  and  live  undisturbed.  Damascius  and  Sim- 
plicius  at  least  went  back,  not  indeed  to  teach  in 
public,  but  to  cling  as  before  to  the  oH  Hellenic 
rites,  and  possibly  to  enjoy  a  few  years  longer  the 
endowments  of  their  school. 


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